From Software to Service: My Journey with the Jesuits

In August 2003, shortly after wrapping up an oil and gas software project in downtown Houston, I found myself in a coffee shop staring at a pros and cons list.

 

The cons – start over with my career… step out of my current life with friends… take a big reduction in salary… move to my old high school campus. That last one seemed particularly troubling to my 25-year-old self.

 

The pros – explore dream job of teaching… coach tennis and cross country… go back to my spiritual home… become closer to God.

 

After staring at that pros and cons list for hours and offering an amateur attempt at what St. Ignatius refers to as discernment, the last line – ‘become closer to God’ – jumped off the page. At that moment, I decided to move to the Strake Jesuit campus and join the inaugural Alumni Service Corps (ASC) program. While I did not know it at the time, even after catching glimpses of it during my time as a student at Strake Jesuit in the early 90’s, the vehicle for bringing me closer to God during that first year and my subsequent twenty years working at Strake Jesuit would be the Jesuits and their spirituality. More specifically, witnessing the Jesuits live out their faith and model the Ignatian ideal of being contemplative in action inspired me then and continues to inspire me to be a better person, employee, father, friend, and son.

 

During that first fall on campus, my daily routine involved running in the mornings with coaches Mike Kerley and Michael Crowley and the cross country team. Living in the ASC house on campus, I set my alarm at 6:02 AM and made it to the team’s gathering spot in front of the Competition Gym by 6:15 AM. My brief, and often hurried, commute each morning profoundly impacted me. As I stepped out of the sliding glass door of my bedroom each morning, across the dark, dew-filled courtyard, I would routinely see Fr. J.B. Leininger, S.J., celebrate Mass by candlelight in the small community chapel. Sometimes with a brother Jesuit, the image of him kneeling in front of the altar or holding the Eucharist up for consecration has stayed with me for twenty years as an example of the lived faith of the Jesuits and the beauty of our Catholic faith. Fr. Leininger worked for decades at SJ, bringing a deeper understanding of mathematics to thousands of alumni through the years. I am certain that his strength and commitment came from those early morning Masses.

 

More recently, before the opening of Loyola Hall, my office was on the first floor of Moran Hall. Serving as the Assistant Principal for Academics, conversations in my office ranged from laughter-filled celebrations of teacher and student success to difficult ordeals with parents, students, and teachers. During the quiet moments between those conversations, I would regularly find myself looking out the window towards the Chapel of St. Ignatius, where I had a view of the chapel foyer and several of the Stations of the Cross created by artist Gib Singleton. Oftentimes, my view of the foyer included Br. Walter Eckler, S.J., an egoless, passionate Jesuit who assisted the operations staff with the mailroom during his time with us. In his ninth decade and seventh as a Jesuit, I would regularly see Br. Eckler, head bowed in prayer and hand touching each station, as I gazed out my window. His image serves as a reminder of the remarkable ability of the Jesuits to be contemplatives in action, working amongst us while always doing so for His greater glory.  

 

So, as we continue with this school year, I look back on that pros and cons list from twenty years ago and wonder, “Did I become closer to God?” The answer is certainly “Yes,” and it is due to the Jesuits, their spirituality, and the Christ-like model they have provided for me and decades of other students, parents, alumni, faculty, and staff.