Assistancy Planning

Charles F. Kelley, S.J.
Director of Assistancy Planning
New England Province 

Father Charles F. Kelley, S.J. serves the Jesuit Conference of the United States as the Director for Strategic Discernment, a position he has held since July 2004. 

Prior to joining the Conference, Father Kelley held numerous positions which focused primarily on secondary education. In 1994, Father Kelley served as the President of Canisius High School in Buffalo, New York, a role he held for five years. He later moved up to Boston, Massachusetts to serve as President of Boston College High School for two years.

Father Kelley entered the Society of Jesus in 1974, after which he earned a BA in Philosophy from Loyola University in Chicago. In 1984, the year of his ordination, Father Kelley received a Masters of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Father Kelley later went on to complete an MA in Secondary School Administration at Fordham University in New York City, and an MA in Non-Profit Management at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, Ohio.

As the Director for Assistancy Planning, he manages a three-year project on strategic planning for the United States Assistancy. This project, led by the Jesuit Provincials, seeks to renew and adapt a “way of proceeding” for the Jesuits of the United States in areas of ministry, apostolic partnerships and religious life. It further involved the restructuring of governance to better serve the Society’s mission.