Portrait of an International Jesuit
Between Jesus, books and LGBTQ advocacy:
Fr. James Martin, SJ by Fannie Dionne
Photo: Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States
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rolific writer and speaker, America Media’s editor-at-large, consultant for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication: American Jesuit Fr. James Martin is one of the most well-known Jesuits after Pope Francis. This is in part due to his undeniable talent for making Ignatian spirituality accessible to everyone but also to his vocal commitment to the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people within the Church. Between his many commitments, he took the time to explain his surprising journey as a Jesuit and the reasons for his commitment. The bottom line is, like St. Ignatius, Fr. Martin is aiming to follow in the footsteps and example of Jesus.
WHAT WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD LIKE? HOW DID IT SHAPE YOU AND PERHAPS ORIENT YOU TO BECOME A JESUIT? I grew up in a Catholic family but not a super-religious Catholic family. I didn’t go to Catholic schools, but I went to Mass most Sundays and believed in God. But it wasn’t until after college that I started to think about religious life, and it was seeing a documentary about the Trappist monk Thomas Merton that made me start thinking about doing something different with my life. Up until that point, I had been working in corporate finance but was quite dissatisfied. Though I had little idea of what that “something else” would be.
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