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Mark Fusco, SJ, ordained a priest

Fr. Mark Fusco, SJ, was ordained June 11 at Alumni Memorial Chapel at Loyola University Maryland. Bishop George V. Murry, SJ, of Youngstown, Ohio, was the ordaining prelate. The newly ordained Fr. Fusco offered a Mass of Thanksgiving at Georgetown University's Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart the following day.

A Mass for Jubilarians. Jesuits marking 50 years in the Society of Jesus from the Maryland and New York Provinces gathered at Loyola University Maryland's Alumni Chapel for Mass June 10.

Click for a listing of all Jesuits from the Maryland Province marking milestone anniversaries.

Fr. Jerome B. Coll, SJ;
Former Georgetown prep president, SJU dean

Fr. Jerome Bartholomew Coll died of cancer Feb. 15, 2012. A Jesuit for 65 years and a priest for 52, he was 83. Fr. Coll had been president of Georgetown Preparatory School, a college professor and administrator and, in the mid 1970s, deputy director of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration.

A Mass of Christian burial will be offered Monday, Feb. 20, at St. Matthias Church in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., at 11 a.m.

The son of Mary Mulligan and John Coll, he was born in Pittsburgh, July 28, 1928. His older brother Fr. John Coll, SJ, entered the Society two years before him. His younger brother William Coll, spent five years as a Maryknoll missionary before leaving to take care of their ill father.

After graduation from Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, Fr. Coll entered the Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pa., July 30, 1946 and pronounced his first vows July 31, 1948 After studies at the novitiate, he earned a licentiate in philosophy from West Baden College in Indiana in 1953, a licentiate in sacred theology from Weston College in Weston, Mass., in 1960 and then a masters from Oxford University in English literature in 1966. Fr. Coll was ordained a priest June 13, 1959, at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology.

Fr. Coll spent most of his priestly life on college campuses, including Saint Joseph’s University where he was an English teacher from 1964 to 1966 and as dean from 1966 to 1970 and at Regis College in Denver where he was assistant to the president from 1970 to 1974.

While he was at Regis, he was named deputy director of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration,and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1975 to complete this assignment.

Twice he served in a Jesuit high school. Before ordination, Fr. Coll’s first assignment was at Gonzaga College High School in Washington D.C., when he taught sophomores. Then from 1979 to 1989, he was president of Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Md. Following a sabbatical at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif., and Oxford University, he returned to Saint Joseph’s University in 1990. He was director of national alumni giving until 1996 and then assistant director of planned giving from 1996 until 2010.

Due to failing health, he moved to Manresa Hall, Merion Station, Pa., where he prayed for the Church and the Society until his death.

The Maryland Province lost three Jesuits this week. Obituaries below:

Fr. Joseph Kennedy, SJ

Brother William Sudzina, SJ

Fr. Jerome Coll, SJ

Fr. Joseph Kennedy, SJ;
Missionary in India for 30 years

Fr. Joseph M. Kennedy, SJ, a Baltimore native who worked in India for 30 years, died of heart failure February 12, 2012. A Jesuit for 69 years and a priest for 56, he was 88. A Mass of Christian Burial was offered at St. Alphonsus Rodriguez Church in Woodstock, Feb. 17.

The son of Mary Ann and Robert Kennedy of Baltimore, Fr. Kennedy was born August 2, 1923. He entered the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pa., July 30, 1942, following graduation from Gonzaga College High School and a year at Georgetown University and professed his first vows July 31, 1944. He studied at Woodstock College in Woodstock, Maryland, from 1946 to 1949, desiring all the while to work in India.

He wrote to his superiors requesting this missionary assignment four times from 1945 to 1948. In his third letter, he wrote, “By means of this letter I would like to volunteer for our Jamshedpur Mission. It is my intention to renew my application each year at this time, until such time as your Reverence shall see fit to send me.” His request was granted in 1949.

Fr. Kennedy continued his education in India, including the study of Hindi, and then remained through ordination and ministry until 1977 — when he returned to Baltimore as director of the Maryland Province’s Jamshedpur Mission Office. His first assignments were as a teacher at schools in Patna and Jamshedpur, India. He was or-dained to the priesthood Nov. 21, 1955, at St. Mary’s College in Kurseong, India, where he continued his studies through 1956. Fr. Kennedy then held a variety of ministries as pastor of St. Joseph’s residence in Golmuri and parochial vicar of St. Mary’s Church in Jamshedpur, and in schools. He was taught English and ethics at Loyola School in Jamshedpur, where he was later rector and headmaster, and served as superior of the college of De Nobili School in Dhanbad and director of XLRI, a highly-regarded business school in Jamshedpur. In addition, he served as socius (executive assistant) to the provincial of the Jamshedpur Province from 1976 to 1979.

After a final assignment to Loyola School in Jamshedpur in 1978-1979, he was named director of the Jesuit Mission Office in Baltimore, a position he held until 1996. He continued working for the missions as associate director of the Jesuit Mission Bureau from 1996 to 2001. From 2001 to 2008, Fr. Kennedy was a retreat director at Loyola College (now Loyola University Maryland). His last assignment was praying for the Church and the Society. His love for the Society was expressed in a comment when he received a necrology (book of deceased Jesuits). “By what most gracious miracle has it been that I may say these men are my kin?!?”

Br. William Sudzina, SJ;
Opened hands and hearts to serve Jesuits and community in need

Brother William J. Sudzina, SJ, died of Parkinson’s disease February 10, 2012. A Jesuit for 60 years, he was 87.

A Mass of Christian Burial was Feb. 16 in Wernersville.

The son of Mary and Michael Sudzina of Duquesne, Pa., he was born July 2, 1925. He entered the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pa., January 6, 1952, and pronounced his vows in the Society of Jesus there January 10, 1954.

Brother Sudzina spent most of his ministry in Wernersville, although from 1966 to 1970, he was assigned to the Colegio San Mateo in Osorno, Chile, where he was assistant minister and custodian of buildings. After making his first vows, Brother Sudzina was assigned as custodian of buildings and assistant cook at the novitiate in Wernersville, remaining there until his assignment in Chile. He returned to Wernersville as assistant to the minister in 1970, an assignment he held until 2006.

Brother Sudzina used his talents as a certified electrician, plumber, mechanic, painter, baker and cooks, not only for the Jesuit novitiate and later residence and retreat house.

He also came to the aid of nearby convents and neighbors who needed his expertise. “He did anything and everything. He was an extraordinarily gifted man,” recalled Fr. William Watters, SJ. “He was always carrying his tool box.” Brother Sudzina helped those in need, as well, collecting food, clothing and appliances for families near the novitiate. In addition, he collected supplies for needy residents of Hot Springs, North Carolina, filling a truck and driving down there twice a year, for many years.

In 2006, he continued there in part-time ministry and in prayer for the Church and the Society until 2009 when he was assigned to Manresa Hall in Merion Station, Pa. There he prayed for the Church and the Society until his death.

Brother Sudzina is pictured on a volcano during his ministry in Chile in the 1960s.