Most everyone has a favorite teacher, or at least an instructor who was particularly formative. Students are encouraged and inspired by their teachers.

We asked a few Midwest Jesuits whose vocations led them to academia to reflect on teachers who made a difference in their lives. Some teachers pushed their students to excel; others stood out for the way they empowered and inspired while teaching. These Jesuits share stories of those whose gift for teaching continues to influence their lives as academics. 

Father David De Marco, SJ, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. He names Dr. David Mason and Dr. Elizabeth Powelson—whom he encountered at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio—as being most influential. “They nurtured my interest in the medical sciences throughout my undergraduate years and did so in a holistic way, with concern for the whole person. Their cura personalis was immensely empowering of my gifts and interests, and I am deeply indebted to each of them for the way they allowed the Spirit of God to work through them. I regularly visited each of them well into their later years (and continue to visit Dr. Mason to this day). I had the privilege of presiding at Dr. Powelson’s funeral service— something that neither of us could have anticipated when we first met.” 

Father Dennis McNamara, SJ, is the Park Professor of Sociology and Korean Studies and special assistant to the president for China affairs at Georgetown University. “I volunteered for missionary work abroad soon after entering the Society. The [former] Wisconsin Province assigned me to South Korea for regency, including three years of language study, teaching, and administration at Sogang University. The work with students proved very attractive and kindled ambitions for further study. Brother William Biernatzki, SJ, and others in the community encouraged me to work in social sciences, which led me to study sociology at Fordham University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Berkeley.” 

Father Michael Simone, SJ, teaches at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. “I think the most influential teacher I ever had was Professor Richard Jasnow, who taught Egyptian history and Coptic language when I was in doctoral studies [at Johns Hopkins University]. He always had fun in the classroom. In fact, he carried himself so lightly that I often forgot that he was a scholar of great eminence. Although his classes were core requirements and not directly related to my dissertation, I wound up learning more from him than from some professors whose research I engaged directly. I try to follow his example of humility, compassion, and good humor every time I teach.” 

Father Frederick Brenk, SJ, who taught for many years at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, recalls admiring many professors. “[As an undergraduate student] at Marquette University, I was very much influenced by George Ganss, SJ, who taught classics, and by Fr. James Orford, SJ, who taught moral theology. Another person, at Saint Louis University, was Walter Ong, SJ. At St. Mary’s, Kansas, there was Gerald Kelly in moral theology, and at Cambridge University, there were many distinguished professors. I might mention that my predecessor in Rome was Edouard des Places, SJ. He was a chaplain to the French army at Dunkirk, spent some time in a concentration camp with Paul Ricoeur and others, and became a famous Greek scholar.” 

Father Nicholas Santos, SJ, serves as associate professor of marketing at Creighton University. He says, “The most influential teacher in my life is my mother, Lucy. She happened to be a teacher herself. From her I learned selfless service, care, and concern for those less fortunate or on the margins of society, patiently bearing suffering, hard work, and lastly, but perhaps most importantly, unwavering trust and faith in God.” 

Father David Schultenover, SJ, Henri de Lubac Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology at Marquette University, names multiple teachers—Sr. Angelo Haspert, OSB, who taught him Virgil’s Aeneid in his high school Latin class, and Professor Lawrence Barmann at Saint Louis University, who introduced him to Roman Catholic modernism. Father Schultenover also credits Vatican II for influencing his career, saying, “Excited by how the Church, under this new Pentecost, was evolving in its encounter with modernity and the metamorphoses effected by two world wars and socio-cultural and technological developments, I felt called to study historical theology to help the Church appropriate the decrees of Vatican II and thereby prepare for Vatican III.” 

Father Thomas Simonds, SJ, professor of education at Creighton University, cites the impact of his Jesuit formation as a whole. He became interested in the field as a regent at Creighton Prep and earned his master’s in school administration at Boston College and a doctorate in Catholic school leadership at the University of San Francisco. Father Simonds also served at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and he says, “When I was a principal, my primary role was to observe teachers and give them feedback on their teaching to help them hone their teaching abilities. My work as a high school principal and teacher definitely prepared me well for teaching graduate students how to be our next generation of teachers.” Father Simonds now teaches various Jesuit regents at Creighton, preparing them for their own regency assignments as teachers. The formation has come full circle.