Father James L. Connor, Jesuit leader who taught at Loyola University Maryland, dies at 92

Jesuit Father James L. Connor, who held national leadership roles and began and ended his active priesthood at what is now Loyola University Maryland, died June 21 at Manresa Hall Jesuit Community in his hometown of Philadelphia. He was 92.

According to a tribute posted on the Jesuits USA East website, following his ordination in 1959, Father Connor taught theology for five years at what was then Loyola College. At the relatively young age of 39, he became provincial of the Jesuits’ Maryland Province. His leadership in that role led to his appointment as president of the Jesuit Conference of the United States in 1976. His five-year stint in that position included participating at the funeral of St. Oscar Romero, who was martyred in El Salvador in 1980.

According to the Ignatian Solidarity Network, which honored Father Connor with  its Robert M. Holstein Faith Doing Justice Award in 2014, that funeral ended prematurely  after a bomb exploded outside the cathedral. Father Connor wrote of the experience for America Magazine.

“As I sat huddled in the San Salvador cathedral with thousands of terrified peasants, I found myself viewing the Salvadoran social situation with the poor and from their perspective of weakness, terror and oppression,” he wrote. “I was given a vivid experience of the power of evil that can permeate the institutions and behavior of those who fight to uphold an unjust system. That experience helped greatly to sharpen and put disparate pieces in order.”

Father Connor served as pastor of Holy Trinity Church in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., 1982-87, then spent 16 years as director of the Woodstock Theological Center. Much of his work there, according to the Jesuits, “focused on ethical leadership in business and teaching the importance of being ‘persons for others’ in the business field.”

Among those he mentored, according to the Jesuit tribute, was Frank Knott, one of his students at Loyola College and founder of Innovation Works, a Jesuit-inspired organization that helps create and sustain social enterprises in Baltimore City.

“Father Connor encouraged us to look at issues of poverty, inequality, segregation and economic disparities as opportunities for service, but also as opportunities to learn from the lived experiences of others in distress as the root of potential solutions,” Knott said. “He truly taught us how to look for and find God in all things.”

Father Connor returned to the Maryland Province front office in 2003, serving for seven years as provincial assistant for Mission and Continuing Renewal, then spent four years in Boston leading retreats for the Jesuit Collaborative. 

Before his unofficial retirement in 2016, he returned to Loyola University Maryland as Jesuit-in-Residence at the Sellinger School of Business. In recent years, he published two books, “Principles of Ignatian Leadership: A Resource for a Faith-Committed Life,” and “Lengthening God’s Arm: A Jesuit’s Life and Thoughts.” In Baltimore, he resided at the Claude La Colombiere Jesuit Community.

Jesuit Father Timothy Brown, a Loyola professor, offered the homily at a June 25 funeral Mass at St. Matthias in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. 

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