By Therese Meyerhoff
ST. LOUIS – J. Michael Mohr, SJ, will be ordained a priest on Saturday, June 8, 2024, in St. Louis. Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Mohr graduated from Catholic High School in 2006 and entered the Society of Jesus in 2013. He will be ordained alongside a fellow member of the USA Central and Southern (UCS) Province of the Society of Jesus, Daniel J. Everson, SJ.
The Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson, Archbishop Emeritus of St. Louis, will preside at the sacred liturgy at St. Francis Xavier College Church.
Mohr and Everson are among the 19 Jesuits to be ordained in the United States, Canada and Haiti this year. All have undergone extensive and holistic training intentionally designed to equip them to serve as pastors, educators, ministers and leaders in the Catholic Church of today – and tomorrow.
Mohr was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A graduate of Catholic High School, he first began thinking about religious life thanks to the witness of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, to whom he remains grateful.
During high school and college, he spent his summers working with youth in the Navajo Nation. After graduating from Millsaps College, Mohr taught high school English at St. Joseph Catholic School in Madison, Mississippi. During those three years, the idea of serving the church as a priest and teacher became more and more attractive. He entered the Society of Jesus at the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, in August 2013, alongside Dan Everson.
Mohr studied philosophy at Saint Louis University and completed his regency at St. Louis University High School. While there, he taught English and theology, assisted with the band, and helped with pastoral ministry and retreats.
Much of Mohr’s formation was shaped by numerous international experiences of service and study, including Spanish studies in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico; service with Indigenous communities in Guyana; pastoral work in Belize; teaching English in Vietnam to brother Jesuits; working with Jesuit Refugee Service in Uganda; and studying theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. During his three years in Rome, Michael participated in Living Stones, a young adult group focused on spiritual formation and giving faith-based art and architectural visits through different churches.
After ordination, Father Mohr will pursue a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry.
(The Jesuits are a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers founded nearly 500 years ago by St. Ignatius of Loyola. With more than 15,000 priests, scholastics and brothers worldwide, they are the largest male religious order in the Catholic Church. Jesuits are widely known for their colleges, universities and high schools, but Jesuits also minister in retreat houses, parishes, hospitals and refugee camps. The USA Central and Southern (UCS) Province serves in 12 states, Puerto Rico and Belize and has approximately 350 men who serve as pastors, administrators, educators, spiritual and retreat directors and in other roles. Jesuits have served in this area of the United States and the Caribbean as early as the 16th century and continually since the restoration of the Society in 1815.)