Rest Their Souls

In the northern hemisphere, the end of October and beginning of November signal the end of the harvest and the coming of the winter months. It also signals the confluence of several pagan and Christian feasts surrounding the dead, e.g., Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day.

In the northern hemisphere, the end of October and beginning of November signal the end of the harvest and the coming of the winter months. It also signals the confluence of several pagan and Christian feasts surrounding the dead, e.g., Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day.


Today is All Souls Day and I usually visit the graveyard on the Georgetown campus to pay my respects to the departed Jesuits who rest there. Over the past year, a number of Jesuits who either served at Georgetown or studied on the Hilltop have left us. The graves of several of these are evident in the cemetery.

One of these Jesuits made a lasting impression on me and upon thousands of students who followed. In the fall of 1968, he was teaching his first theology class at Georgetown. It was my first college class as well. I had never heard of Teilhard de Chardin nor read Jean-Paul Sartre. I had never before thought that there was a "Problem of God." Fr. Thomas King, SJ taught us about all that and more. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to know and learn from this man, priest, and scholar.


Links follow for obituaries in the past year for Georgetown-connected Jesuits:




Requiescant in pace.

Hugh A. Kennedy, SJ - 2009.9.6 (b. 1918)

Joseph F. Curran, SJ - 2009.9.3 (b. 1924)

William M. King, SJ - 2009.9.3 (b. 1928)

William A. Ryan, SJ - 2009.7.19 (b. 1914)

Thomas King, SJ - 2009.6.23 9 (b. 1929.5.9)

Joseph Logan, SJ - 2009.5.4 (b. 1921)

Jerry Hall, SJ - 2009.3.11 (b. 1950)

Joseph A. Haller, SJ - 2008.12.14 (b. 1920)

Josef Kadlac, SJ - 2008.11.2 (b. 1921)