Office of Social and International Ministries

James Stormes, S.J.
Secretary for Social and International Ministries
Maryland Province

Father James R. Stormes, S.J. has served as the Secretary for Social and International Ministries for the Jesuit Conference of the United States in Washington, DC since August 2003.

Having spent four decades with the Society, Father Stormes brings a variety of experiences to the social and international ministries mission. His international experience encompasses much of Latin America where he spent 2 years in Chile with a number of shorter assignments in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Responsibilities have included coordinating Jesuit international work both in home province of Maryland and now at the national level.

Upon joining the Society in 1967, Father Stormes studied philosophy at St. Louis University. He later completed a Masters of Divinity at the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., the same year he was ordained a priest in 1979. His first ministry was then at St. Aloysius Parish in Washington, D.C.,   Much of his work in social justice encouraged a deeper study into the issue.  Early experience in Guatemala led him to study economic development at the University of Texas, and then pursue a doctorate in political economy at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He later taught economics at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

In 1991 he began work for the Maryland Provincial coordinating social, pastoral and international ministries as well as serving as executive assistant to the Provincial. 

Currently, as the Secretary for Social and International Ministries, Father Stormes and the Social and International Ministries staff coordinate and support the many social ministry works in the US and network with many of the international justice ministries of the Society. In addition, the staff participates in advocacy in both legislative and corporate arenas voicing the concerns of Jesuits and those they serve in Washington and other centers of public policy.