Three Holy Cross Alumni Ordained into Priesthood

Three alumni from the College of the Holy Cross have recently been ordained into the priesthood. Rev. Brent H. Otto, S.J.’01, and Rev. Loren Adam DeLeon, S.J. ’03, have been ordained into the Society of Jesus and Father Alexander Scott ’09 was ordained as a priest into the Archdiocese of Washington.

Fr. Otto was recently profiled in the National Jesuit News. A Massachusetts native, he attended Holy Cross where he was first introduced to the Jesuits. In the article, Fr. Otto reflects on his time at Holy Cross, where he discovered Ignatian spirituality and discussed how it opened his eyes to a new deeply intimate encounter with God and the world. While at the College, Fr. Otto majored in history with a focus on education and was actively involved in campus ministry and the College’s retreat programs. After college, he won a prestigious one-year Watson Fellowship to study Catholic education in India. He then returned to the U.S. and taught high school in Auburn, Mass. He entered the Society of Jesus in 2004 and spent time in Jamaica teaching at a university and a primary school. In 2006, he was sent to Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y., where he earned a master’s degree in philosophy and completed a joint master’s program in International and Global History from Columbia University in New York and the London School of Economics. According to the website, Fr. Otto is currently serving as a deacon and RCIA teacher at the Church of Saint Leo the Great in Oakland, Calif. as well as a chaplain for the Port of Oakland. Read the profile on the National Jesuit News website.

According to the National Jesuit News, Fr. DeLeon grew up in Cleveland where he first met the Jesuits at Saint Ignatius High School and then traveled to Worcester to attend Holy Cross to study religion. After graduation, he went to Jamaica and volunteered as a teacher and rugby coach at St. George’s College. Fr. DeLeon said that his experience was “transformative,” and it led him to  join the Society of Jesus in 2004. Fr. DeLeon earned a master’s degree in social philosophy at Loyola University Chicago and then taught for three years at Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory School on Chicago. According to the website, Fr. DeLeon is currently serving at St. Columbanus Catholic Church in Chicago. Read Fr. DeLeon’s biography here.

“We are thrilled to welcome these men to priesthood in the Society of Jesus,” Rev. Timothy Kesicki, S.J., president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States told the National Jesuit News. “This time is a gift for the Jesuits, for the family and friends of those being ordained and most of all, for the Catholic Church. In choosing to devote their lives to service, these men joyously live their answer to God’s call in a deeply profound and humbling way. We will keep them in our prayers as they begin their priestly duties.”

The Society of Jesus, is the largest order of priests and brothers in the Roman Catholic church and this year has ordained 28 Jesuits in the U.S. and Canada. This is the largest  group of Jesuits to be ordained in the Catholic priesthood in more than 15 years. Read the full story here.

Fr. Scott’s service to the military and recent ordination into the Archdiocese of Washington was recently featured in the Catholic Standard.

According to the article, he was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and lived throughout the U.S., but considers Washington home. Growing up on the Army base at Fort Belvoir, Fr. Scott was inspired by the example of two priests from the Archdiocese of Washington who were serving the Catholic community there. “Fr. John Mudd just an absolutely kind man, so caring, so dedicated to serving everyone… He was always there for us,” he told the Catholic Standard.

Fr. Gary Studniewski, a Washington priest serving as a military chaplain at Fort Belvoir, was influential during Fr. Scott’s high school years. “He impressed on me the need for the priesthood, the beauty of the vocation, the amazing task (that) the priesthood is,” he said in the article.

Fr. Scott attended Holy Cross and majored in history and philosophy and was part of the Army ROTC program. One day he hopes to fulfill his military commitment and serve as a chaplain. Since 2011 Scott has been studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. According to the Catholic Standard it was Fr. Scott’s time spent in Rome witnessing two papacies, which, continues to inspire his work. “Pope Benedict opened the Gospel for us in his prayerful insights and Pope Francis shows us it’s equally important, that lived experience of the Gospel,” he said. Read the entire article in the Catholic Standard.

This "Holy Cross in the News" item by Kelly Ethier.