Fr. Pat Peppard, S.J.

It may seem very vain to claim to have a calling from God – and even more so to talk about it. But I believe all men and women have a calling – given not through voices from heaven but revealed in the details of daily life. I am 66 years old, 48 years a Jesuit. 43 years a high school religion teacher and 35 years a Roman Catholic priest.

I am the first born of four children. My paternal grandfather was an Irish-American railroad worker. My maternal grandfather was a German-American Ohio farmer. I grew up in a devout Roman Catholic family in an increasingly secular suburban America in the 1950’s.

When I was born, my German grandfather, Frank, prophesied I would be a priest.
My grandmother worked in the student cafeteria at John Carroll University. My father, my Uncle Jim, my brother Tim and I all went to St. Ignatius High School.

My Dad and my brother Tim went to John Carroll, where Tim is the head of security today. After being wounded in World War I, my uncle Jim studied for the priesthood. For over 30 years, he was pastor of St. Joseph’s, a central city parish in the steel town of Massillon, Ohio.

My talents in writing and public speaking were identified and encouraged by the Sisters of St. Ursula in grade school and the Jesuits in high school. At St. Ignatius, the Jesuits introduced me to retreats based on the Spiritual Exercises and to social service work.

In 1960, I began Jesuit studies at the Colombiere College of the University of Detroit. Annual retreats and daily experiences confirmed my decision to become a Jesuit. In 1962, I made first vows. I continued college studies at Loyola University in Chicago. Jesuits work all over the world, but my ministry has been in Jesuit high schools in the Midwest.

In 1965, I was sent to teach at St. John’s High School in Toledo, Ohio. I loved it and worked for nine years teaching religion and directing plays. Since then, I have done similar ministry for ten years at Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, and twenty years at University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy.

“God can be found everywhere.”

I believe God lead me to this ministry through my Jesuit teachers and guides during my college years. But I also believe that God confirmed me on my spiritual journey through the hundreds of lay colleagues, students and retreatants through the years. St. Ignatius teaches us that God can be found everywhere; and I believe him.

Fr. Pat Peppard, S.J. is teacher of theology at University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy in Detroit, Mich