Joshua Peters

Father Joshua M. Peters, S.J., was born in Detroit, Michigan, to his parents, Michael and Helen, both career-long Catholic school teachers. He and his brothers Drew and Seth were raised in the small town of Auburn Hills and represent the eighth generation of Peters from Detroit soil. The Brothers Peters all attended University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy. They received a valuable education from the Jesuits who chose to stay in the city of Detroit when all other Catholic high schools closed or moved to the suburbs. Joshua was then formed by the community-oriented Marianists at the University of Dayton in Ohio, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in American studies with minors in English and human rights. Post-college, after serving the country for two years through the AmeriCorps Program, Joshua worked as a carpenter, laborer and associate retreat director before being asked to serve as the campus minister of his alma mater, U of D Jesuit. After re-encountering the missionary spirit of the first companions of the Society of Jesus, he knew God was calling him to enter the novitiate at Loyola House in Berkley, Michigan, in 2009. He worked in Manderson, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation as a novice and took vows in 2011. Joshua received a master’s degree in social philosophy at Loyola University Chicago before being missioned to teach at Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory School on Chicago’s West Side. Singing in the choir and worshipping at St. Benedict the African Catholic Church in Englewood was remarkably formational during his six years in Chicago. Joshua completed a Master of Divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California, and is working on a master’s degree in theology from Xavier University of Louisiana’s Institute for Black Catholic Studies. After ordination, he will serve as an associate pastor at Christ the King Parish/Trinity Vicariate in Detroit.