Fr. James J. O’Leary’s
Ministry of Kindness
By Bhavana Purighalla
Fr. George Winzenburg (left) and Fr. O’Leary (right) with Laree Pourier, teacher at Red Cloud Indian School, at a Jesuit event in 2016
Father James J. O’Leary, SJ, grew up in a household where religion was very important. Every guest was expected to join in saying the family rosary. Some of his friends would come after dinner just to avoid it! As a young man, medicine was his plan. Father O’Leary’s brother was a medical student, and his father was a doctor, so it seemed like a logical move for him. However, one day while dissecting a frog, he realized that something wasn’t right. This wasn’t his plan—he was meant to work for God.
Father O’Leary grew up learning about the Society of Jesus—his father donated every month—and he understood that he could give back and do what he loved at the same time. Just like medicine, a career with the Jesuits also ran in the family. Father O’Leary’s brother ended up leaving medical school to join the Society, too. Their family was supportive of the brothers and understood their vocations.
Father O’Leary entered the Society when he was 21 and has since served in various ways, including teaching and offering spiritual direction. Teaching helped form his Jesuit identity, and this identity guided his daily life and activities. At one point early on in his formation, Fr. O’Leary questioned his vocation. “I had the thought of leaving the Jesuits,” he says. But after teaching during his regency, he found clarity. “I came back because I loved teaching, and I loved giving back.”
Throughout his ministry Fr. O’Leary made an impact on the lives of many people, one of them being Fr. Al DiUlio, SJ. The two met when Fr. DiUlio was assistant principal at Campion High School, and Fr. O’Leary was the spiritual director for scholastics. They instantly connected, became great friends, and still speak frequently. The friends have been there for each other during hard times in life, such as the loss of family members. “Father O’Leary is an extraordinarily generous man, and he’s thoughtful and humorous. You can tell him anything and he will just sit and listen. He is completely trustworthy and a wonderful character,” Fr. DiUlio says.
In his free time, Fr. O’Leary enjoys watching sports, especially cheering for the Green Bay Packers. He also loves to travel. “It’s getting harder to travel now, but growing old is learning to let go of things,” he says. The advice, the support, and the kindness Fr. O’Leary has given to so many people over the years has had a lasting impact. It is clear to those who know him that Fr. O’Leary is a great man who has contributed greatly to the communities where he’s served.
Today he is missioned to St. Camillus Jesuit Community, where he prays for the Church and the Society. He says he is also glad to be able to reflect on his own life through prayer. And that reflection leads him to share the following advice: “Accept people as they are, and don’t change people. Listen to them; listen to their heart and mind.”
A Brother’s Vocation
By Lauren Gaffey
Br. Heidrick with his nephew and family during a summer 2020 visit
There are Jesuits working in a vast array of professions—teachers, doctors, lawyers, professors—but one unique job belongs to Br. Jim Heidrick, SJ, a locksmith at Creighton University. Nearly six decades ago, his first assignment as a Jesuit was to Creighton, where he’s been ever since. He began there working on telephone and electrical needs and repairing dental equipment and televisions but later received an assignment to help in the locksmith area. When he first saw the residence hall records, they were handwritten and disorganized. “I spent the first year going building to building and writing down all the doors and lock numbers. I wrote a computer program to keep track of the locks which I am still repairing and tracking 57 years later,” Br. Heidrick said.
From the age of ten, Br. Heidrick knew in his heart that he wanted to be a brother, though he was not sure which order was right for him. He lost his hearing as a young child and enrolled at St. Joseph’s Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis before returning home to Nebraska to attend a technical high school. Upon graduation, his father asked if he still wanted to be a brother and when Br. Heidrick said yes, his father arranged for him to go to Creighton University for an interview with Fr. Lawrence Flanagan, SJ.
Br. Heidrick (third row, right) with fellow tertian brothers
at Colombiere College in 1970
“At that time, you were a postulant for six months, you went home for two weeks, and if you came back you started your novitiate at Florissant, Missouri,” Br. Heidrick recalls. After his two years in the novitiate, he moved to St. Bonifacius, Minnesota, to study with other brothers while simultaneously continuing to study electricity, as he had in high school. He was then assigned to Creighton.
Being the keeper of the keys at the university is the specific manifestation of his vocation. “As a Jesuit brother, he sees his vocation as being of permanent service here at Creighton,” Terry Kult, nurse to Creighton’s Jesuit community, says. Like all Jesuits, brothers take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and serve the Society of Jesus, but they do not preside at Mass or celebrate other sacraments. While St. Ignatius of Loyola and his original companions were all priests, it was only six years after the founding of the Society that St. Ignatius petitioned the pope to allow the order to admit lay co-adjutors, or helpers. Sometimes referred to as “lay religious,” they are not preparing for the priesthood; rather, the brotherhood is a vocation of its own.
Brothers like Br. Heidrick are committed to serving God through the people of their time. “I love to do the work of the people, the fathers, the students, and the faculty,” he says. “That is my service to the Lord. A Jesuit brother helps maintain the mission so others can do the bigger work. Today brothers are teachers, administrators, and almost anything that is needed.”
While his parents and brothers have all passed away, Br. Heidrick is still able to connect with extended family. In the summer of 2020, his nephew— also named Jim Heidrick—came from California with his family to visit his uncle. “It made me so happy that they remember me. I wished they could have stayed longer because they all make me laugh,” Br. Heidrick remarks. “I love them, and I love my work here at Creighton University.”