On Sunday, November 23, members of the Saint Peter’s community, along with friends, family and associates, gathered in the Chapel of Saint Peter Hall to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the ordination of our own Fr. Rocco Danzi, S.J., University Chaplain.
Fresh off a sabbatical that was focused on bettering his Spanish and learning from Jesuits and lay colleagues in Chile, Mexico and San Diego how to best offer Ignatian Spiritual Programs to the Latino Community, Fr. Danzi has returned to once again being his guidance and spiritual support to the university.
After teaching Catholic school for five years, Fr. Danzi entered the New York Province of the Society of Jesus in 1989. The murder of the Salvadorian martyrs in his first months of the novitiate and a long experiment as a novice in Crown Heights, Brooklyn had a very profound impact upon him and his ministerial imagination. He desired and was missioned after his Philosophy studies to work as a regent for three years in the multicultural and urban environment of Crown Heights. It was then that he would use his novitiate Spanish and begin studying Haitian Creole.
In 1996, Fr. Danzi began his Theology studies at Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, M.A., spending his summers working and living in Haiti. Upon ordination in 2000 and for six years after, he ministered as a Jesuit priest in Crown Heights. Fr. Danzi would return to Haiti one more time in 2006-2007 as a Tertian to work with JRS at the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. After Tertianship, he was missioned as the first vocation promoter of the New York Province for three years and then assigned to Saint Peter’s University in July of 2010.
Fr. Danzi leads and ministers with passion and purpose, much like a personal hero of his, one Franklin D. Roosevelt. Leading the St. Aedan’s parish through the difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic, he saw firsthand how communities band together during not the “worst” of times but, as Fr. Danzi likes to put it, through “changing” times. In moments of true reflection and following the spiritual exercise of St. Ignatius himself, Fr. Danzi advocates for taking quiet moments when one can and going “up on a mountain” to look down and reflect on the “vista before us, where God is inviting us all to what lies ahead for a better tomorrow”.
The 25th anniversary celebration was capped with a lunch at Liberty House in Jersey City. There, Michael Milano ‘74 toasted Fr. Danzi, saying, in part:
“Congratulations, Fr. Rocco, on reaching this remarkable milestone of 25 years of priesthood! Your faithful service, dedication to others, and unwavering commitment to your vocation have touched countless lives in both the Saint Peter’s and Saint Aedan’s communities. May God continue to bless you with wisdom, strength, and joy.”
Please join us all in congratulating Fr. Danzi on his landmark anniversary.