Jesuit Father Fagin was a gifted spiritual advisor

    Jesuit Father Gerald Fagin, an associate professor for the Loyola Institute for Ministry and member of the Loyola Jesuit community, died of prostate cancer June 14 at the Ignatius Residence. He was 74 and had been a Jesuit for 55 years and a priest for 43 years.
    Father Fagin was born in Dallas in 1938 and entered the Jesuits after high school in 1956. He received his undergraduate degree from Spring Hill College and studied theology at Regis College in Toronto. He received his Ph.D. from the University of St. Michael’s College in 1974.
    Father Fagin was an expert in spirituality and moral theology and a spiritual director for more than 35 years, teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level in the Department of Religious Studies and the Loyola Institute for Ministry. He also has co-directed an internship in spiritual direction at the Archdiocesan Spirituality Center that prepares people to do ongoing spiritual direction and to give the Spiritual Exercises.
    He was a masterful teacher, lecturer and homilist, said Jesuit Father Kevin Wildes, Loyola’s president. His course on St. Ignatius of Loyola positively affected hundreds of students who benefited from Father Fagin’s wisdom and insight about St. Ignatius and Ignatian spirituality.
    His most recently published book, “Putting on the Heart of Christ,” explains how the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius invite people to a virtuous life. On the first page, Father Fagin writes: “Gratitude was at the heart of Ignatius’ response to God and to the giftedness of all life.”
    Father Fagin also wrote “The Holy Spirit” and “God’s Dream for You,” which will be published after his death.
    A funeral Mass was celebrated June 20 at Holy Name of Jesus Church in New Orleans, and he was buried in the Jesuit Cemetery at Grand Coteau. He is survived by nieces and nephews.
    Father Fagin taught several courses in systematic theology and spirituality, including “Grace, Christ and Spirit”; “Church, Sacraments and Ministry”; “Spirituality, Morality and Ethics”; “Spirituality for Ministers” and the “History of Christian Spirituality.” He also taught an undergraduate course on St. Ignatius Loyola for LIM.