Bradley, Harold C.

Let us pray in thanksgiving for our brother, Father Harold C. Bradley SJ, who was called to eternal life on Friday, July 10, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He was 84 years old and in his 59th year as a Jesuit.

Harold was born in Atchison, Kansas, on March 19, 1925, and was baptized at St. Benedict Church. He attended grade school first at St. Francis Xavier and then at St. Peter’s and high school at Rockhurst High School, all three in Kansas City, Missouri. After and receiving his bachelor’s degree in history, economics and philosophy from Rockhurst College in 1949, Hal attended Christ the King Seminary in St. Bonaventure, New York, for one year before entering the Society of Jesus at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Missouri. He attended Saint Louis University and earned his Master’s degree in American and European history in 1956. As a regent he taught history at Kapaun High School in Wichita, Kansas. Theology studies at St. Mary’s College in St. Marys, Kansas, led to ordination on June 15, 1961, by Bishop Edward Hunkeler. He did tertianship in La Ceja, Colombia, after which he undertook special studies at Saint Louis University and in 1966 he received his Ph.D. in American and modern European history. On August 15, 1965, Hal pronounced his final vows in New Haven, Connecticut.

In 1966 he began his long career in international relations at the Universidad Católica in Quito, Ecuador, where he worked in administration. In 1968 he returned briefly to Saint Louis University where he taught history as was appointed director of its Latin American program. During that time he also served for a year at the Province Office as assistant for Jesuits in international ministries. In 1971 he was assigned to Georgetown University in Washington DC, first as director of their international program until 1985, then as director of the Center for Immigration and Refugees until 1991, and finally as assistant to the president for federal relations. In 1996 he moved back to St. Louis where he worked as an educational consultant. In 2000 he was hired by Marquette University as assistant to the vice-president for governmental and community relations. In 2007, as his health required closer attention, he moved to the Jesuit community at St. Camillus in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, where he continued to go to his office at the university as often as he was able. May the Lord grant him a just reward and peaceful rest from his many labors.