After serving in the Navy during World War II followed by a stint as a Chicago police officer, Br. Small entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1952 at Milford, Ohio. When he came to Loyola Academy, Br. Small picked up a paintbrush and returned to a hobby he’d enjoyed since his childhood – painting. During the school’s first fundraiser in 1970, Br. Small included 36 of his original pieces, all of which were quickly purchased. Since then, he contributes between 60 to 100 paintings each year to Loyola Academy’s fundraiser and raises upwards of $45,000 annually for the school. The funds from the sale of his artwork are used to endow a scholarship fund for students in need.

While Br. Small’s work as a carpenter and an artist has done much for Loyola Academy, few would say those are his most important contributions. He’s known by students, alumni, staff, parents and coaches as a true man for others – someone with a generous spirit who humbly attributes his abilities to God’s grace.  It is his generosity that most would say is his great contribution to Loyola Academy.

Find out more about Br. Jim Small and his artistic talents in the Ignatian News Network video below:

(L-R) Gregory Ostdiek, Kevin Embach, Kyle Shinseki, Matthew Lieser, Trevor Beach, and Joshua Peters

A Jesuit professes first vows after two years in the novitiate and before entering first studies. Kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, the man promises to become poor, chaste, and obedient with God’s help. Each novice then receives a crucifix—a symbol of his dedication to following Christ on the way of the cross—which will remain with him throughout his life.

On August 13, 2011, six Jesuits from the Chicago-Detroit Province professed first vows at St. Thomas More Catholic Community, the Jesuit parish of the Twin Cities in Minnesota.  Read on to learn more about them and why they love being Jesuits.

“During my time in the Navy, I realized that my vocation really was to be a priest. So I started looking around and discovered that the Jesuits were the best fit for me. . . . There are a lot of good guys in the Society. . . . There’s a lot of study, but it’s fun learning and training yourself to help other people.” — Gregory Ostdiek, Beavercreek, OH

Greg has a BA in English and a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Dayton, and an MA in English and an MS in mechanical engineering from Penn State. He served in the navy for 14 years, including several tours in the Middle East. Greg taught physics at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School & Academy before joining the Society.

“I entered the Society at age 49, making me the oldest novice in the US. . . . Since I entered, my (much younger) brothers have been great and my vocation has been confirmed time and again. Medicine is my profession, and Jesuit priesthood is my vocation.”— Kevin Embach, Grosse Pointe Shores, MI

Kevin earned a BS from Notre Dame and an MD from the University of Virginia. He also earned a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Kevin worked as an assistant professor of medicine at Wayne State University in Detroit, and he’s practiced and taught internal medicine at Beaumont Hospital in Grosse Pointe.

“Once I made the decision to join the Jesuits, I had a lot of fears coming in. But in the novitiate I learned to trust in God. I also learned what a blessing it is to live in community and be supported. . . . I’ve been able to find a tremendous amount of joy and happiness these last two years, and I look forward to what God has in store for me.”— Kyle Shinseki, Honolulu, HI

After earning a BA in planning from MIT, Kyle completed an MA in urban planning from UCLA and an MBA from Northwestern. He worked as an assistant brand manager at Procter & Gamble and as the development director at the National Council of La Raza, a nonprofit organization focused on reducing poverty and discrimination for Hispanic Americans. Kyle also participated in community service at St. Xavier Church in Cincinnati.

“I had a bit of a call when I was about 12 years old, and didn’t know what to make of it. . . . I put it out of my mind through high school and college, . . . then after a few years of working in business and lots of discernment, I joined the Jesuits. God is very patient. You can run, but he’ll follow you. Even if you run fast, he’ll be there, wherever you end up.”— Matthew Lieser, Lakewood, OH

A graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Matt has a BA in international affairs with a concentration in business and a minor in Spanish. He spent two years with the Peace Corps in Guatemala teaching business and English. He worked for Chiquita International as an analyst, and he was a volunteer coordinator for the Habitat for Humanity.

“After doing a three-day silent retreat at Boston College, I . . . researched Ignatius and the Jesuits and decided to contact the Jesuit vocations office. But once that fervor died down, I found myself a little more afraid and stepped back. A little more than a year later I was in my room late at night . . . and I thought, ‘when did I feel most myself?’ And it was on that retreat, with God. . . I wrote the vocation director that night, and five days later I was on my way to the novitiate. There I found that same feeling from the retreat. That deepening in my soul, knowing who I am, excitement for the future that continues today.”— Trevor Beach, Grand Rapids, MI

Trevor is a graduate of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, where he studied theology and Spanish and did some graduate work in theology. He also was involved with Ministry Formation Leaders (SALT) for three years and spent a semester in Chile volunteering with the Jesuit-based En Todo Amar y Servir in Valparaiso.

“Taking the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the Society of Jesus is my “Yes.” . . . I’m excited to be in First Studies, moving on to the next stage of Jesuit formation because it is my chance to deepen my relationship with Jesus and to let that sweet Holy Spirit order my steps. I already feel that First Studies are allowing me to see the profound way that God has been moving and acting in this world since the beginning of time. . . .”— Joshua Peters, Detroit, MI

Joshua graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School & Academy and earned a BA in American Studies from the University of Dayton. He worked in campus ministry at his high school alma mater and in retreat ministry at the Jesuit Spiritual Center in Milford, Ohio.

[Partners Magazine]

Jesuit Father Chris Devron says he has always been interested in start-ups and has an entrepreneurial personality. So it’s fitting that he’s president of Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory School, the first all-new Catholic high school on Chicago’s West Side in more than 80 years.

Fr. Devron has come full circle in many ways. In 1995 he was a Jesuit novice in Chicago when he witnessed the beginning of the country’s first Cristo Rey school, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, while attending the press conference announcing that the Jesuits were starting the school.

He remembers being thrilled that the Society of Jesus would be open to something new. “My exposure to that point had been that we had schools that were long-established, and that we were struggling with diversification and becoming less and less affordable to lower-income families. To see there was this new model that would help kids and families [afford Jesuit education], that was really exciting to me,” he says.

Christ the King, which follows the Cristo Rey work-study model, opened at a temporary site with 120 students in 2008, and its brand new building opened in January 2010. An architecture critic at the Chicago Tribune said the new building’s “business-like image and its unrepentant sense of newness — a shock amid the tattered brick buildings around it — are both there by design, sending a message that the building marks a fresh start.”

Despite being in a low-income neighborhood, families can afford the private education Christ the King offers because of its work-study model in which students work five days a month at a corporation, helping them pay for their tuition. A few students share a full-time job at businesses such as U.S. Bank, Loyola Medical Center and even the Chicago Blackhawks.

Education had been Fr. Devron’s passion even before joining the Society, and it led him to his vocation. After attending Notre Dame as an undergrad, he taught in the Bronx. He thought he would teach for a year and then go to law school, but teaching put him in touch with his deeper desires.

“I began to wonder and pray and ask myself what it would be like if I were to continue teaching, but to do so as a priest ultimately,” he says.

When Fr. Devron returned to Notre Dame as a graduate student in theology, he met Jesuits there that helped him form a concrete picture of the Society, and he got in touch with the New York Province’s vocation director and entered in 1991.

Ten years later, Fr. Devron was ordained and his first assignment was setting up an outreach program for low-income middle-school students at Regis High School in New York. All the while, he continued to track the progress of Cristo Rey Jesuit High in Chicago and the Cristo Rey Network’s expansion to other cities. “It was always intriguing to me if this could be a model for African-American students. I always had that in the back of my mind,” he says.

As his assignment in New York was coming to an end, he got a call from the Jesuits in the Chicago Province explaining they were doing a feasibility study on the second Cristo Rey school in Chicago. It would be on the city’s West Side in the African-American community, and they asked him to be a part of it.

That’s how he landed back in Chicago in 2007 to prepare to open the new school and to construct a new building. He found himself faced with a major challenge: a skeptical community that had seen lots of people make promises that weren’t kept. The Jesuits’ promise was of a new school and a new building — a  100,000 square-foot school on a corner on the West Side of Chicago where there were decrepit buildings and drug dealing, in a neighborhood that used to have six Catholic high schools that had all closed.

Fr. Devron understood they had to win people over. “Even though the Society of Jesus has a 450-year tradition of educating young people, they [neighborhood residents] didn’t know that. I remember one woman said ‘Well, when I saw Jesuit on the sign, all I knew is that I wouldn’t be able to afford it,’ ” he recalls.

After moving to the new building in January 2010, Fr. Devron noted the buildings’ affect on the students. “I think that one of the things that we’re so gratified about is that having a building like this reinforces the high standards that we have for our students. The building itself teaches our students that they are valuable, they are worthy, they have dignity, and we saw when we moved over here that the students walked a little taller in this building.”

Now in its third school year, Christ the King has three classes and an enrollment of 280, with a capacity for about 600 students. The students are mostly African-American and only about 10 percent are Catholic, yet Fr. Devron says the students and their families appreciate the religious element of the school. “There are some new charter schools that have opened around here, and I think our competitive edge is that we are faith-based. In talking to the families, what they like about our school is that we have a community prayer life together, and students are encouraged to act on their faith and to be committed to Christian service,” Fr. Devron says.

He says one of his favorite parts of his job is hearing great things from employers about the students performing on the job, and that the work also exposes students to other cultures. “Our students are learning how to be intercultural — moving from the culture of their home and neighborhood to the culture of corporate life in America,” says Fr. Devron. “They have to be adaptable, and I think that’s a great skill that we can teach them because when they go to college there’s another level of adaptability they they’re going to have to embrace.”

Thinking back to when he learned about the first Cristo Rey school, he remembers “having this feeling that I’d love to stay in Chicago and see how this plays out and how it will work with the students having jobs. I have an entrepreneurial personality, and I liked that the Society could be entrepreneurial — that to me was a revelation.”