About
Our Work
Resources
“My Jesuit vocation has taken me to a multitude of cities doing a plethora of different activities that were not on my radar prior to joining. I am thankful to have had the opportunities to travel widely, meet many different people, and to witness the many ways God works through me and others.”
Will join the faculty and staff at Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, serving as a priest and teacher and by working in the school’s business office.
Jim McGivney, SJ, was born and raised in the western suburbs of Cleveland along with his older brother. He first encountered the Jesuits through his grandmother’s cousin, Paul Besanceney, SJ, and later at Saint Ignatius High School. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Dayton and earned a master’s degree in accounting with a specialization in tax from the University of Notre Dame.
After working for a year at a Big Four accounting firm, he discerned a vocation to religious life and entered the Congregation of Holy Cross in 2011. While a novice, Jim again met the Jesuits through spiritual direction at Sacred Heart Jesuit Retreat House in Sedalia, Colorado. After a time of further discernment, he left the Congregation of Holy Cross and then spent a year working as a donné at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois. He entered the Jesuits in 2014.
As a novice, Jim taught English and math to adult immigrants, volunteered as a chaplain at Ramsey County Jail, and worked with service learning and entrepreneurship programs at the University of Detroit Mercy. After taking first vows, he finished his philosophy coursework for priesthood ordination and earned a master’s degree in education at Fordham University. Jim spent part of his first year of regency as a hospital chaplain doing Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Loyola Medical Center in Chicago prior to the pandemic and then two years teaching social studies and religion at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis.
He later attended the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California, where he completed a Master of Divinity degree. While there, he served as a deacon and assisted with the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) team at St. Mary Magdalen parish in Berkeley. After ordination, Jim will join the faculty and staff at Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He will serve the school as a priest and teacher and by working in the school’s business office.
Bachelors’ degree, accounting, University of Dayton; Master’s degree, education, Fordham University; Master’s degree, accountancy, University of Notre Dame; Master of Divinity, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
Tenacious, generous and thankful. Yes, I agree with how they describe me. I think the words they use describe well the type of person I am for others.
My favorite saint is St. Matthew. We both share a common thread in our vocation story. Both of us were accountants before Christ called us to come and follow him. I have always been fascinated by St. Matthew’s story since I entered religious life. Although I did not drop everything I was doing and follow Christ immediately as Matthew did, I left behind a potentially prosperous career as an accountant to journey with Christ. Matthew's decision to follow Christ worked out pretty well for him. So far, mine has been quite a surprising and rewarding adventure as well.
When I graduated from Notre Dame with a master’s degree in accounting, I thought for certain I was done with school forever. Little did I know I would go back for seven more years of school. I also never thought when I entered the accounting profession, I would one day find myself working as a chaplain in a hospital and prison, teaching in a high school, learning and relearning Spanish, helping out in homeless shelters, and living in many different places as a Jesuit.
My Jesuit vocation has taken me to a multitude of cities doing a plethora of different activities that were not on my radar prior to joining. I am thankful to have had the opportunities to travel widely, meet many different people, and to witness the many ways God works through me and others.
Prepare yourself for the diversity and challenges of the places you go, the people you meet and the things you are asked to do. Trust in God, persevere and don’t look back.
