The Rev. Joseph M. Kennedy, a Jesuit priest who taught in India for 30 years, died of heart failure Feb. 12 at the St. Claude la Colombiere Community, his order's Roland Park retirement home. He was 88.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Chevy Chase, he was a Gonzaga College High School graduate who attended Georgetown University before entering the Society of Jesus in 1942. He studied at the old Woodstock College from 1946 to 1949. As a seminarian, he was granted permission to become an Indian missionary.
Father Kennedy continued his education in India and studied Hindi. According to a biography supplied by his order, he was a teacher at schools in Patna and Jamshedpur. He was ordained to the priesthood Nov. 21, 1955, at St. Mary's College in Kurseong, where he continued his studies.
He later taught English and ethics at Loyola School in Jamshedpur, where he was also rector and headmaster. He was also director of Xavier Relations Labor Institute, a business school.
His order said his final assignment was as rector of Loyola School in Jamshedpur from 1976 to 1979, when he was named director and associate director of the Jesuit Mission Office in Baltimore.
From 2001 to 2006, Father Kennedy was a retreat director at Loyola University Maryland.
A Mass was offered Friday at St. Alphonsus Rodriguez Church in Woodstock.
Survivors include two sisters, Jane Kennedy of Silver Spring and Sister M. Francesca Kennedy of Notre Dame, Ind.
jacques.kelly@baltsun.com
Father Joseph Kennedy, Jesuit priest
The Rev. Joseph M. Kennedy, a Jesuit priest who taught in India for 30 years, died of heart failure Feb. 12 at the St. Claude la Colombiere Community, his order's Roland Park retirement home. He was 88. (Baltimore Sun)