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2010
Rev. Paul V. Robb, SJ, known for his gifts as a mentor, died on Sunday, July 4, 2010, at the age of 81. He was born on July 15, 1928, to Francis and Marguerite (Gerard) Robb in Toledo, OH. After graduating from Sacred Heart Grade School in Vincennes, IN, he attended Holy Cross Seminary in Notre Dame, IN, for three years and graduated from Reitz Memorial Catholic High School in Evansville, IN. Fr. Robb entered the Jesuits in 1947 after his freshman year at Vincennes University and was ordained on June 12, 1960, at the former West Baden College in West Baden, IN. During his Jesuit formation, Fr. Robb earned a BA in English and Latin from the former Milford Novitiate in Milford, OH (1951); a PhL (1954) and STL (1961) from West Baden College; and an MA in philosophy (1959) and a PhD in psychology (1966) from Loyola University Chicago. During regency, Fr. Robb taught mathematics and moderated the school newspaper at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, IL (1954–57). “Paul provided good counsel to me in high school and continued beyond my college years,” says Walter Buchmann. “He married my wife and me. I remember him warmly as a mentor and friend. He was a kind, intelligent, and unusually open-minded man. Knowing him was my good fortune.” Following his ordination and doctoral work, Fr. Robb taught psychology as an assistant professor at Loyola University (1966–68) and then became director of novices at the Milford Novitiate (1968–69) and the Bellarmine School of Theology in North Aurora, IL (1969–70). From 1968–71, he also served as chairman of the Committee on Formation for the Jesuits in the United States. “Paul was a good and faithful Jesuit who had a remarkable number of friends and admirers, especially among his former students” says Fr. George Lane, SJ, who lived in community with Fr. Robb for six years. Through the 70s and 80s, Fr. Robb was an assistant professor at the former Jesuit School of Theology Chicago in Hyde Park. In addition to his teaching and administrative duties, in 1974 he founded the Institute for Spiritual Leadership (ISL) and served as director of the training program for spiritual directors until 1990. “Paul was an incredibly dynamic teacher,” explains Sr. Suzanne Zuercher, OSB, who first met Fr. Robb at Loyola University and later worked with him as a codirector and an instructor at ISL. “He was a pioneer in the field of psycho-spirituality and his presentations were just incredible because they were so well developed and so touching. We trained people from all over the world, and many of Paul’s former students went back to their homelands and created centers or worked with people one on one. Paul really had an international influence.” Former ISL student Brian Ventham of London reflects: “As director of our ISL program, as friend and priest, Paul has inspired my work as a psychotherapist. I repeat his words in countless sessions.” After a one-year sabbatical, Fr. Robb spent the next seven years leading workshops and writing about spirituality. In 1998, Chicago Province Treasurer Fr. Daniel Flaherty, SJ, brought Fr. Robb to the province as assistant treasurer. “While Paul was gifted in psychology and spiritual direction, he also was good with numbers and meticulous,” explains Fr. Flaherty. “In his later years, he was able to handle the day-to-day work of the business office and finish a book he’d been working on for some time called Passage Through Mid-Life: A Spiritual Journey to Wholeness. He was a man of many talents who lived a life of service.”
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Fr. William G. Goudreau, SJ, was certainly an intrepid missionary and a true son of St. Ignatius as his place of birth indicates. Though he did not attend a Jesuit high school, his background was steeped in Jesuit tradition—the northern area of Miichigan where the Jesuits had their early mission among the native American Indians. And Bill himself was proud to be part American Indian. He imbibed the spirit of Isaac Jogues and John de Brefeuf, and carried that ideal with him in the Society and in India . In spite of lifelong poor health, he immersed himself in village India , and spent his priestly life traveling from place to place among the Dalits whom he adopted as his own. Even while in theology, he lost the sight of one eye due to poor treatment. Later he was to suffer from T.B., prostate cancer, and other ailments, but in spite of all that, he survived to an old age. One endearing quality of Bill was his attachment to Jesuit community life. While in the mission stations, he would usually be seen once a week at St. Xavier’s in Patna . All added up, he spent 17 years in Bakhtiarpur and 5 years in Koath. And a few rare years in other missions. The people of Bakhtiarpur showed their love and appreciation for him on the occasion of his 70th year as a Jesuit, and it was a consoling visit that he made to them as their father in the faith. After his many years as a pastor in the villages, he entered a new phase of his life as a retreat preacher. He made his base at St. Michael’s for a few years, and later at St. Xavier’s. His great friend and spiritual brother was Fr. Jim Cox. With the help of some Sisters, Bill gave charismatic retreats in towns and villages, as long as he could travel. He then spent several years as chaplain to the Missionary of Charity Brothers in Gonpura, and made it a point to visit all the leprosy patients there each day. In his final years he led a quiet and retiring life, spending most of his time reading or praying. It was only this year that ill health forced him to retire to XTTI where he could get the care he needed. His name will go down in Patna Jesuit history as one of our great and zealous priests, and his memory will live on in our hearts. Memorial gifts may be made to the Jesuit Partnership or the Jesuit International Missions by writing or calling:
Chicago Detroit To make an online donation, click here. Fr. Robert J. Murphy, SJ Fr. Robert J. Murphy, SJ, pastor and former novice master, died on May 1, 2010, at the age of 87 in Clarkston, Michigan. Fr. Murphy was born to Joseph G. and Ella (Moran) Murphy on April 15, 1923, in Chicago. Fr. Murphy entered the Jesuits in 1941, just after graduating from Saint Ignatius College Prep (then called St. Ignatius High School) in Chicago. “Bob Murphy was a year ahead of me at St. Ignatius,” says Jack Cavenagh, 1942 alumnus of the school. “He was a unique individual who combined a talent for leadership and managerial ability with a modest and engagingly humorous demeanor. I will never forget him.” After completing a course of study in Philosophy at the former West Baden College in 1948, Fr. Murphy taught for three years at University of Detroit High School. He then returned to West Baden to complete his study of Theology before his ordination on June 14, 1954. Fr. Murphy next served as the secretary for the Provincial for the Chicago Province of the Jesuits until 1958. That year he began his ten-year service as master of novices at the former novitiate in Milford, Ohio. “Fr. Murphy was Novice Master to many of us who joined the Society at Milford, Ohio,” says Bill Maloney of Asheville, North Carolina. “It was a time of change in the Church and in the Society. He was there for us and taught us many things about what it means to be a Jesuit. Let us remember him in our prayers.”
From 1968-1971, Fr. Murphy served as the director of the Barrington Retreat House in Barrington, Illinois. After this he went on to serve as Pastor at St. Ignatius Parish in Chicago until 1978. From 1978-1980, Fr. Murphy served as the province coordinator of Christian Life Communities at Loyola University. After this he returned to serve as associate pastor at St. Ignatius Parish in Chicago until 1982, and then at Christ the King Church in Lexington, Kentucky, from 1982-2002, when he went to Colombiere to pray for the Church and the Society. “Father Murphy was a very gentle and kind human being,” says Angela Cluck. “He will be sorely missed by all of us here in Lexington Kentucky.” Memorial gifts may be made to the Jesuit Partnership or the Jesuit International Missions by writing or calling:
Chicago Detroit To make an online donation, click here. Fr. Paul "Sam" Kehres, SJ Fr. Paul “Sam” Kehres, SJ, teacher and Jesuit of the Patna Province of India, died on March 26, 2010, in the western Indian city of Pune. Fr. Kehres was born to Leo and Lenora (née Hengstler) Kehres on December 15, 1919, in Defiance, Ohio, where he was raised with his four brothers and three sisters. Fr. Kehres entered the Society on September 1, 1938, a year after his older brother Fr. John C. Kehres, SJ, who died in 2007. Fr. Sam Kehres was ordained on June 13, 1951, in West Baden, Indiana. In 1956 Fr. Kehres went to India, where he served as a professor at the Papal Seminary and De Nobili College in Pune. “He taught biology and inferior psychology,” says Fr. Theodore Bowling, SJ, friend and colleague of Fr. Kehres. “Someone once dubbed him as the superior professor of inferior psychology.” In 1967 Fr. Kehres went to serve as a professor of biology and psychology at Sacred Heart College at Shembaganur in southern India. In 1972, he returned to Pune to resume his service at De Nobili College as both registrar and a teacher. Fr. Kehres continued to serve at De Nobili College for the rest of his life, wearing many hats over the years including superior of the philosophers, house treasurer, and house librarian. Memorial gifts may be made to the Jesuit Partnership or the Jesuit International Missions by writing or calling:
Chicago Detroit To make an online donation, click here. Fr. John W. Witek, SJ Fr. John W. Witek, SJ, internationally renowned scholar of East Asian history, died on January 31, 2010, at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, District of Columbia. He was 76 years old. Fr. Witek was born on September 13, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois, to John A. and Antoinette Witek. He attended grade school at Sacred Heart on Huron Street in Chicago. In 1951 Fr. Witek graduated from St. Ignatius High School (present day Saint Ignatius College Prep) and went on to undergraduate studies at Loyola University Chicago. He entered the Society of Jesus on September 1, 1952, at the Novitiate in Milford, Ohio. Fr. Witek earned an M.A. in East Asian History from Loyola University Chicago in 1964, embarking on a subject that he studied for the rest of his life. “Though he didn’t start studying China until a later stage in life; Fr. Witek recognized that China was going to be very important,” recalls Fr. Robert Bireley, SJ, who was a year ahead of Fr. Witek in their Jesuit formation. “Fr. Witek was an outstanding scholar of Chinese history and the role of Jesuits in China. He was unusually diligent, a very hard worker, but very good humored. Fr. Witek was also very generous working with other scholars. He always shared what he knew such as tips about what archives and books to look into and so on.” Fr. Witek was ordained on June 10, 1965, at St. Joseph Church in Aurora, Illinois. He earned his Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 1973. Later that year he went on to Xavier University to teach in the department of History and Political Sciences as an Assistant Professor. In 1975 he returned to Georgetown University, where he taught in the department of history until his death. Over the course of his career, Fr. Witek authored and edited many important books and articles about the history of East Asia. Some of his most notable titles include the following: Controversial Ideas in China and in Europe: A Biography of Jean-François Foucquet, SJ, 1665-1741, published in 1982; Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688): Jesuit Missionary, Scientist, Engineer and Diplomat, published in 1994; Religion and Culture: An International Symposium Commemorating the Fourth Centenary of the University College of St. Paul, published in 1999; Dicionário Português-Chinês: Portuguese-Chinese Dictionary, published in 2001; and Monumenta Sinica: Volume I (1546-1562), published in 2002. Memorial gifts may be made to the Jesuit Partnership or the Jesuit International Missions by writing or calling:
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Fr. Ernest G. Spittler, SJ Fr. Ernest G. Spittler, SJ, died at the age of 81. A Jesuit for 63 year and native Clevelander, Fr. Spittler was born to Dr. Felix and Genevieve Spittler on May 4, 1928. He attended St. Therese Elementary School and St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland. After high school, Fr. Spittler entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Milford, Ohio, in June 1946. He completed philosophical studies at West Baden College in Indiana, and went on to complete graduate studies in chemistry at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C., His major ministry occurred from 1965 through 1993, when he taught Chemistry at John Carroll University. In his final years he became involved in Marriage Encounter which he continued through 2001. For many of these later years, he was also pastorally active in the Cleveland diocese. Some seven years ago, because of health, he retired to Jennings Center for Older Adults in Garfield Heights, where as a grade-school student, he had often served Mass. He enjoyed classical music, and during his years at Jennings Center shared this passion with other residents, and was a companion to many. “I was honored to meet and know Fr. Ernie,” recalls Ceil Sledz-Greenwell of North Royalton, Ohio. “His quiet, humble exterior belied the wit and knowledge within the truly holy man he was when you spoke with him. I am blessed to have known him. He will be missed by more people than anyone can even imagine.” Memorial gifts may be made to the Jesuit Partnership or the Jesuit International Missions by writing or calling:
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