Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / Jesuit pastor continues counseling teens at Loyola High School
At 81, he says, 'I've got a job to do'
Jesuit pastor continues counseling teens at Loyola High School
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published December 14, 2007
|
Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Fr. James O’Reilly, SJ, shares a joke with Loyola High School junior Jamal Gardner-Douglas. |
Detroit — Rather than defining his work in terms of his parish or school assignments, 81-year-old Jesuit Fr. James O'Reilly takes a broader view:
"I've got a job to do, and that's to help people know the Way, the Truth and the Life," says Fr. O'Reilly, pastor of St. Peter Claver Parish in northwest Detroit and part-time counselor at Loyola High School.
St. Peter Klaver parishioner Karen Hickman calls Fr. O'Reilly "just wonderful."
"He provides us with such leadership. Since the merger (of St. Francis de Sales and Precious Blood parishes in 2005 to form St. Peter Claver), he has brought us together as a parish," she says.
Hickman, who teaches English and mathematics at Loyola, also praises "Fr. O" for the encouragement he gives to the students to aim for high academic achievement.
Fr. O'Reilly also taught English at Loyola through the previous school year. In that role, and in his continuing role as a counselor, he has striven to encourage the students to excel and make the honor roll.
Loyola is not the typical Jesuit-sponsored high school — where most students are from well-off families and tend to be high-achievers. Rather, it is a school where a Jesuit-style education is provided for urban teens, many of whom may have faced difficulties in their previous schooling.
But Fr. O'Reilly tells Loyola students they can make good grades if they put their minds to it, and some of them take him up on his challenge.
"We had one grad, who is now successful in real estate, come talk to the boys, and he pointed at me and said, 'I never knew I was smart until that man told me I was,'" Fr. O'Reilly recalls.
|
Fr. David Mastrangelo, SJ | Among the schools Fr. O'Reilly has served at over the years is St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, and one of the students during his time there is now Loyola High School's president, Fr. David Mastrangelo, SJ.
"He has always taken a great interest in people. He sees good in everyone, and just brings out the best in them," Fr. Mastrangelo says.
Fr. O'Reilly's counseling of adults at his parish draws praise from Ona Harris, another St. Peter Claver parishioner. "He's an excellent spiritual counselor. He's very charming and jovial, but also very frank and honest with you. He's very aware of the obstacles lay people encounter in trying to lead a Christian life," she says.
Harris, who is helping manage the parish on an interim basis while Deacon Wyatt Jones grapples with ill health, says Fr. O'Reilly is "very comforting," because he "really expresses how God is so loving, so forgiving."
A native of Toledo, Fr. O'Reilly celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination this year, and he was a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) for 13 years before ordination.
As a child, he lived for five years in the Lucas County Jail, because his grandfather was the county sheriff. "I used to talk to the trusties (prisoners whose good behavior earned them certain privileges) who would bring us our meals and do other things in the residence," Fr. O'Reilly recalls.
|
Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Fr. James O'Reilly, SJ, is pastor of St. Peter Claver Parish, Detroit. |
|
Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Jesuit Fr. James O’Reilly talks to Loyola High School sophomores (from left) Henry Cyrus, Andre Smith and Stefon Johnson about the importance of getting good grades. |
And he still talks to prisoners, when he celebrates Mass once a month at the Huron Valley Correctional Center in Ypsilanti.
Fr. O'Reilly has taught at Jesuit schools and colleges in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and served two Ohio parishes over the years.
His most unusual assignment was the two years in the mid-1980s he spent at a Jesuit high school in the east African nation of Sudan.
"We were in Wau, about 600 miles southwest of Khartoum, the capital. We had rice and gravy base some days, other days we had gravy base and rice; now and then we'd have a chicken. And there was no way to entirely keep the bugs out of the food. I lost 45 pounds," he recalls.
Fr. O'Reilly taught mathematics and English to students ranging in age from 14 to 31. "They were so eager for an education, but we had to close the school because of tribal warfare," he adds.
Besides enjoying his work at Loyola High, Fr. O'Reilly says he enjoys his work with the people of St. Peter Claver Parish: "It's been great to work with all these people who are so eager to help make the parish a success. And we're starting to see some new people."
The best thing about having been a Jesuit all these years is "getting to know Christ better, and coming to see what He wants you to do in life so you can follow Him better," he says.
"I like to say that, through all these assignments and experiences I have had, God is finishing me," Fr. O'Reilly adds.
Despite his age, Fr. O'Reilly says the word "retire" is "not in my vocabulary." He acknowledges, however, there could come a time when he could no longer walk — walking has been "a bit of a challenge" since hip replacement surgery for a second time in June — and he says he would retire to Colombiere Center in Clarkston "when it becomes too much trouble for other people to take care of me."
"But even then, it would be my job to pray for my Jesuit community," he says.
For more information about: St. Peter Claver Parish, call (313) 342-5292; Loyola High School, call (313) 861-2407 or visit www.loyolahsdetroit.org.
|
