Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Michael Benigno, Director of Communications
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SOCIETY OF JESUS TO CELEBRATE JESUIT ORDINATIONS AT
THE FORDHAM UNIVERSITY CHURCH
(BRONX, N.Y., June 10, 2015) - With great joy and gratitude to God, the Society of Jesus will celebrate
the ordinations to the priesthood of Jesuits Dennis Baker, SJ, Brent Otto, SJ, John Peck, SJ, and Sean
Toole, SJ, on Saturday, June 13, 2015, at the Fordham University Church. They will be ordained by the
Most Reverend Matthew H. Clark, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Rochester, N.Y. The ceremony will
be streamed live online at www.fordham.edu/media beginning at 10:30 a.m.
In total, 28 men are being ordained Jesuit priests this summer in the United States and Canada - the
largest group of new priests ordained by the Jesuits in more than 15 years.
At upwards of ten years, the Jesuit formation process is rigorous. Each of the men being ordained has
earned a graduate degree in theology; they’ve all served at Jesuit high schools and colleges, and many
have traveled abroad to work with the poor. They’ve served in local Catholic parishes and homeless
shelters and as chaplains in hospitals and prisons, just as St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits,
laid out in his precise guidelines for Jesuit formation.
Nineteen of the 28 men being ordained attended a Jesuit high school or university, and some entered
the Society even before they graduated from college. Others had careers before discerning their
vocation.
Dennis M. Baker, SJ, 35, was born and raised in the Buffalo, N.Y., area. A member of the boards of
trustees of Fairfield University in Connecticut and Regis High School in Manhattan, his lifelong love of
sports helped inspire his recent report for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities on mission,
identity and athletics at Jesuit schools.
Brent H. Otto, SJ, 35, grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts. In 2006, he was sent to Fordham
University in the Bronx, New York, where he earned a master’s degree in philosophy and completed a
joint master’s program in International and Global History from Columbia University in New York and
the London School of Economics. He is a board member of the Ignatian Solidarity Network.
John W. Peck, SJ, 34, grew up in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. He taught philosophy at Loyola
University Maryland in Baltimore and then earned a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Boston College
The USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus
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Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
School of Theology and Ministry while working as a deacon at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. His first assignment as a priest will be at Holy Trinity Parish in Washington, D.C.
Sean P. Toole, SJ, 33, is a native of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. At Saint Louis University, he received a
master’s degree in urban affairs in 2009. He spent the next three years at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in
Baltimore teaching U.S. government and working in campus ministry. After ordination, he will join the
staff at St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan.
Father Timothy Kesicki, SJ, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, said,
“We are thrilled to welcome these men to priesthood in the Society of Jesus. This time is a gift for the
Jesuits, for the family and friends of those being ordained and, most of all, for the Catholic Church. In
choosing to devote their lives to service, these men joyously live their answer to God’s call in a deeply
profound and humbling way. We will keep them in our prayers as they begin their priestly duties.”
About the Society of Jesus in the United States
Founded in 1540 by Saint Ignatius Loyola, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is the largest order of priests and
brothers in the Roman Catholic Church. Jesuits are involved in educational, pastoral and spiritual
ministries on six continents and in 127 nations around the world, practicing a faith that promotes
justice. For nearly 500 years, Jesuit education has made its mark on the world. In the United States,
there are 28 Jesuit colleges and universities, 59 Jesuit high schools and 16 middle schools with a shared
goal of developing competent, compassionate and committed leaders in the service of the Church and
society. Jesuits also minister in parishes and at retreat houses and serve as chaplains at prisons,
hospitals, nursing homes and in the military. For more information on the Society of Jesus, visit
http://www.JesuitsEast.org.
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The USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus
39 East 83rd Street | New York, NY 10028 | T: 212.774.5500 | F: 212.794.1036 | www.JesuitsEast.org