In Memoriam

O’Connell, Joseph SJ

posted by: tricia on Friday, September 26, 2008

    Fr. Joseph F. O’Connell, SJ, a Washington, D.C., native and Jesuit for 48 years died of cancer on  September 25, 2008.  He was 66.
    Fr. O’Connell, the son of James and Fabiola Marx O’Connell, was born May 23, 1942. After graduating from Gonzaga College High School, he entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) Sept. 7, 1960. He was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore on June 2, 1973.
    Fr. O’Connell earned his bachelors and masters degrees from Loyola University in Chicago, and then received a masters of divinity from Woodstock College and a doctorate in education from Columbia University Teacher’s College.
    His first assignment took him to Scranton Preparatory School where he taught English from 1967 to 1970. After earning his doctorate, Fr. O’Connell went to Management Design in Cincinnati, a consulting firm, where he worked as a counselor 1976 to 1985. Next he went to New York where he worked on the Commission on Research and Development, part of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association (JSEA). He was director there for eight years. He served as vice president of the Washington-D.C.-based JSEA for a year before becoming its president, a post he held from 1996 to 2005.
    During his time there, he wrote extensively about Jesuit education and developed several programs to promote Ignatian identity and spirituality at Jesuit-sponsored schools.
    After a sabbatical year, he became secretary for secondary education for the U.S. Jesuit Conference, where he remained until he became ill.   
    Upon the news of Fr. O’Connell’s death, the JSEA issued a statement, praising his work in education.  “Joe served as mentor, guide, supporter, friend to many colleagues in Jesuit education whom he brought together to share a passion for educating and forming young people of competence, compassion and conscience. JSEA salutes a visionary Ignatian leader, compassionate priest, and dutiful friend – a companion of Jesus,” the statement said.