Fr. Jim Michalski S.J. - Founder of Jesuit Academy Passes

We are sad to inform the Jesuit Academy community that Fr. Jim Michalski, SJ, founder of Jesuit Academy, passed away on Saturday, December 6 after a short battle with an aggressive cancer.  Below please find information about Fr. Jim's life and his final arrangements. 

Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of our brother Fr. Jim Michalski, S.J., who was called to eternal life on December 6, 2014 following a short battle with an aggressive cancer.  He died in hospice care in the presence of Jesuit brothers and friends.  He was 72 years old, a Jesuit for 54 years, and a priest for 42 years. Born on April 30, 1942, in Milwaukee, WI, Jim attended St. Veronica’s Grade School and Marquette University High School before entering the Society in 1960 at the Jesuit College in St. Bonifacius, MN.  Jim went through the normal course of studies—juniorate at St. Bonifacius, philosophy at Saint Louis University and theology studies at Regis College, Toronto—before being ordained on June 8, 1972, at the Church of the Gesu, Milwaukee, WI.  He made tertianship in Dindigul, Madurai Province, India, and pronounced final vows on April 22, 1980. As a regent, Jim taught at St. Ignatius High School (Cleveland, OH) and continued in the secondary education apostolate at Creighton Prep (Omaha, NE), after ordination.  At both places he taught English; at Prep he chaired the Theology Department and designed the Freshman Retreat program, a model that numerous schools across the country have since adopted.  Following tertianship, Jim went to Kampala, Uganda.  There he helped establish the new Jesuit residence, served as vocation director, and worked in the National Youth Office.  After six years in Africa and a year’s sabbatical, Jim returned to Omaha where he began research into establishing a Jesuit presence in north Omaha.  Community leaders told Jim that too many young black males were being lost to the streets on account of inadequate education.  That led to Jim and three other Jesuits to begin the Mulumba House Jesuit Community in 1995.  A year later, Jim became the founding president of the Jesuit Middle School of Omaha, and its chaplain and religion teacher.  Jim remained at the middle school for the next 15 years.  By the time he moved on in 2011, the Jesuit Middle School of Omaha (now Jesuit Academy) had become a respected and integral part of the north Omaha African American community.  In 2012, Jim took up a new assignment among the Lakota at St. Francis Mission, Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota.  Though his work there was primarily in parishes, he left his mark across the Reservation, including on those he visited in prison and at hospitals.  Illness returned Jim to Omaha in the late fall of this year.  In many ways Jim was a trailblazer.  His regency at St. Ignatius, Cleveland, was decades ahead of the merging of the Chicago, Detroit and Wisconsin Provinces.  The Freshman Retreat program at Creighton Prep, missionary activity in Eastern Africa, and tireless work establishing a Jesuit presence in north Omaha all forged new paths for the Society.  Jim embraced all of these with great generosity, energy and cheerfulness.  In recent years, he continued to exemplify Jesuit availability by dedicating himself to the people of the Rosebud Indian Reservation.  To all of these apostolates Jim brought much hope:  for him, everything was a celebration of possibility.  Many will remember Jim as a giant among Jesuits, least because he was an all-conference tackle his senior year at Marquette High, and mostly because of his exemplifying Jesuit simplicity and availability, being humble in all he did, and having a great love for Christ, his Jesuit communities and those to whom he ministered. 

Arrangements are as follows: VISITATION  4:00 – 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 9  St. John’s Church, 2500 California   
                                                                       Plaza, Omaha, NE 
                                         WAKE SERVICE   6:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 9  St. John’s Church 
                                         FUNERAL MASS 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, December 10  St. John’s Church 
                                        BURIAL  Following Funeral Mass, Wednesday, December 10  Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, 4912 
                                                        Leavenworth Street, Omaha, NE 

Messages of condolence may be sent to the following:   
Creighton University Jesuit Community    2500 California Plaza  Omaha, NE 68178                                                     
Kino Jesuit Community  PO Box 499  St. Francis, SD 57572                                     

As we remember with gratitude all that God has done through Jim’s life of service to the Church and Society, we are reminded of our privilege and obligation to offer Masses and prayers for his eternal repose.  All members of the Wisconsin Province and those applied to it are to offer one Mass intention for Jim.  Members of the Creighton University Jesuit Community will offer one additional Mass intention.  All will wish to remember Jim in their prayers and Masses. 

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