Posts Tagged ‘Vocations’

In 2011, the Society of Jesus in the United States ordained 11 men to the priesthood. Coming from all walks of life, the ordinandi class of 2011 includes an actor and a registered nurse. They will go on to serve around the country in various forms of ministry.

In the months leading up to the July ordinations of these Jesuits, National Jesuit News followed one man, Jesuit Radmar Jao, on his “Path to the Priesthood”. You can watch Jao’s ordination on our YouTube page here.

For more information about becoming a Jesuit, please contact one of our vocation directors.

Fr. Johnathan L. Brown, S.J., 36, is originally from Eunice, La. Before entering the Society of Jesus in 2002, he studied visual communications at the Art Institute of Houston and worked as a graphics and web design artist. As a Jesuit novice, he worked at Hope House in the New Orleans St. Thomas housing project as well as a variety of communities in both Tampa, Fla. and Belize. While in philosophy studies at Saint Louis University, he was active in campus ministry and participated in service trips with students. These experiences prepared him for his next assignment at San José Parish in Villahermosa, Mexico, where he worked with youth groups at 52 satellite chapels. He returned to Tampa to teach at Jesuit High School and coached junior varsity football, served as linebacker trainer for the varsity team and was moderator of the hunting and fishing club. John completed both his Master of Divinity and Master of Theology at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. While in Boston, he also spent time working within St. Columbkille Parish in Brighton, Mass. This summer, John will work at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Antonio, Texas before joining the pastoral staff at Sacred Heart Church in El Paso this fall. (New Orleans Province)

Fr. Mark P. Fusco, S.J., 46, was born in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Upon graduation from Monsignor Paul Dwyer High School, he attended St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, earning an honors Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies and English Literature in 1989. He proceeded to earn a Master’s degree in Philosophical Theology from Yale University in 1991. Mark then worked on international health issues at the Vatican and as Director of Programs at the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center in Rome. Later he received his Licentiate in Sacred Theology in Moral Theology from the Pontifical Lateran University and worked for a number of years in the private sector and in secondary education. In 2005, he entered the Society of Jesus at the Novitiate of St. Andrews in Syracuse, N.Y. He studied philosophy at Loyola University in Chicago before beginning doctoral work at the University of Toronto in systematic theology. Ordained to the deaconate in April 2010, Mark served as a deacon at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Toronto, Canada. After working at a parish for the summer, Mark will be returning to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. to finish his dissertation. (Maryland Province) Read the rest of this entry »

Jesuit Father Joseph Billotti, assistant to the vice president for college relations at Canisius College, celebrated 60 years as a Jesuit in 2010 and said that he finds still finds Jesus in his apostolate today through his Jesuit vows — especially obedience.

Fr. Billotti’s assignments have taken him to many places, including Le Moyne College, his provincial’s office, Canisius High School and Micronesia, but he said that none of these apostolates would have happened if it were not for his vow of obedience.

“It was not only that my superiors missioned me to them, but without my vowed commitment to go anywhere I was sent, the opportunities to serve God’s kingdom in these scattered areas of the world would never have even presented themselves to me,” Billotti reflected.

“Never would I have been blessed to labor among such diverse peoples. Never would I have seen my own country through the eyes of so many cultures. Never would I have gazed upon the Body of Christ ornately clothed in so many colors, shapes and languages,” he wrote.

Read more of Billotti’s reflections at the vocation website for the Maryland, New England and New York Provinces.

Jesuit Father Paul Coelho, from Kohima, India, and currently working at the Center for Service and Justice and in campus ministry at Creighton University, has lived in Jesuit communities across the globe.

He admits that he came to the United States with a certain amount of apprehension. “I wasn’t sure how I’d fit in; I wasn’t sure how well I would be accepted. I had lots of doubts,” he said.

But, Fr. Coelho said, “It took me just two days to realize that a Jesuit community anywhere in the world is the same.”

While there are superficial differences, he said, he’s found that what it boils down to at the deepest level is amazingly similar.

“I’m convinced that when you’re a Jesuit you almost belong to a different nationality — the Jesuit nationality. It transcends natural borders and geographic and demographic borders,” Coelho said.

He has found that he’s at home in any Jesuit community because of the Society’s long, shared history. For more of Coelho’s reflections, watch the video below.

Along with preparing for the priesthood, studies and comprehensive exams at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University at Berkeley, soon-to-be ordained Jesuit Radmar Jao is discovering that he has created yet another set of expectations by participating in the Path to Priesthood video series.

“Expectations are something that I struggle with a lot. Being a performer, I feel like I have to perform; I feel like I have expectations of myself and I pay attention to other people’s expectations of me. And, that necessarily isn’t such a wise thing to do, I know, and I’ve kind of been working on that in my formation, just to…be. To be with whatever situation I may find myself with, but it’s hard,” says Jao.

As we follow Jao on his journey to ordination in June, leave a comment or ask a question here on the National Jesuit News blog or on YouTube and he will respond in an upcoming future video diary. And check back weekly for more video diaries from Jao.

Today, we launch a new online video series via YouTube focusing on a Jesuit in the last few months of formation before his ordination to the priesthood. Called “Path to Priesthood”, the series gives viewers an opportunity to follow Jesuit Radmar Jao in the months leading up to his ordination, join his actual ordination ceremony and hear his reflections before his first assignment as a Jesuit priest. The series also offers a collection of weekly video diaries from Jao himself where he gives his thoughts on the approaching ordination, to what happens in his class, ministry or that day in his community.

Jao, who is currently in his third year of theological studies at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University at Berkeley in California, is preparing for his ordination in June in Spokane, Wash. Formerly an actor, Jao joined the Society of Jesus in 2001. He also currently serves as a deacon at St. Agnes Parish in San Francisco.

You can view the first episode below and make sure to come back next week for Jao’s first video diary on what his life is like as he prepares to become a priest.