Members of the university and Jesuit communities, including President John J. DeGioia, gathered this weekend for the profession of final vows by Rev. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., (C’88), vice president for mission and ministry.
The event took place Nov. 10 in Gaston Hall with the Society of Jesus’ Maryland provincial, the Very Rev. James Shea, S.J., presiding.
“I am a Jesuit priest partly because of my experience at Georgetown as a student in the 1980s,” O’Brien said. “So it is fitting that I profess my final vows as a Jesuit back here [at the university]. God has been so good to me here, as a student and now as a Jesuit. I hope I can simply return God’s graciousness in my service here at Georgetown.”
Final vows mark a Jesuit’s definitive incorporation into the apostolic body of the Society of Jesus.
“We celebrate with and through Kevin the call to live the discipleship of learned ministry that serves all women and men to enable all to live lives of dignity and grace,” DeGioia said at the ceremony.
A Jesuit’s final vows are usually taken 15 or more years after entering the order, following the period of formation established by Society of Jesus founder St. Ignatius of Loyola, and at the invitation of the superior general of the society in Rome.
O’Brien, who joined the Jesuits in 1996, has worked and lived in India, Mexico and Bolivia and also has served as a chaplain in an immigration detention center on the Arizona-Mexico border.
He also serves as a Jesuit-in-Residence in Georgetown’s Copley Hall. Prior to coming to Georgetown, O’Brien served as associate pastor at Holy Trinity Parish in Washington, D.C.
Celebrants of the Eucharist included Rev. Joseph Lingan, S.J., rector of Georgetown’s Jesuit community; Rev. Howard Gray, S.J., special assistant to the president; and O’Brien.