The Rev. Vincent Genovesi, S.J.
The Rev. Vincent Joseph Genovesi, S.J., has been connected to St. Joe’s for as long as he can remember. A Philadelphia local, Genovesi was raised in Juniata Park. While attending high school at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, he was introduced to many Jesuits, who were his teachers.
These Jesuits, Genovesi recalled, made a lasting impression on him throughout his high school years up until his graduation in 1956.
“They made a very big impression on a lot of the boys who were through there,” Genovesi said. “When I finished there, I started to think, ‘Well, maybe I would like to join the Jesuits,’ because they had such a big impression on me.”
After graduating, Genovesi entered the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus and was ordained a priest in 1969. He then received a doctorate in Christian ethics from Emory University in 1973.
Shortly after, in 1974, Genovesi began teaching Christian ethics and other morality-based theology courses at St. Joe’s. Genovesi said he loved to teach — for him, the true highlight was the students.
“The contact with the students, that was the best part,” Genovesi said. “Students either make teaching a joy or a sorrow. It can be either one, and for me, it was a joy.”
Following the closure of Manresa Hall, Genovesi will move to Colombiere Jesuit Community in Baltimore, Maryland. Amid the transition, Genovesi said he has valued his time at St. Joe’s.
“I have really loved it here,” Genovesi said.
The Rev. Anthony Berret, S.J.
The Rev. Anthony Berret, S.J., always had an interest in entering the priesthood. Growing up in Pennsauken, New Jersey, Berret said he remembers playing priest as a child. Berret was surrounded by religious life, spending much of his education around nuns and priests.
Yet, Berrret said he was less drawn to the sacramental part of the priesthood life as he was toward education, a decision cemented by his high school education at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School.
“I was interested in the priesthood, but to see a priest who [is] as scholastic as a teacher, I said, ‘That would be attractive. I’d like to do that,’” Berret said.
Berret fulfilled his desire to join the priesthood, coming to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1971, before joining St. Joe’s faculty in 1982. He taught a subject he previously struggled with: English.
“I had a teacher in high school, in junior year of high school, who said to me toward the end of his course, ‘You obviously have not read, and you can’t write,’” Berret said. “And so, I said, ‘I better become an English major just to learn these things.’”
Berret said studying and teaching English allowed him to embrace his creative imagination, perhaps best exemplified by the course Berret pioneered, Music and American Literature.
A trumpet player in St. Joe’s jazz band himself, Berret found that students all engaged with music and tried to incorporate it into his teaching — even if other faculty gave wary looks when he rolled boom boxes into his classroom.
“I found that that was the best way of teaching, to have an inter-art approach to it,” Berret said. “And I realized that the students’ main art form was music. It’s one they listened to when they were doing our reading.”
Following Manresa Hall’s closure, Berret will move to Colombiere Jesuit Community in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Rev. Joseph Godfrey, S.J.
The Rev. Joseph Godfrey, S.J., was born in Buffalo, New York, and was drawn to a religious life from a young age. While attending Canisius High School in Buffalo, a Jesuit high school, Godfrey remembered the lasting impression the Jesuits had made on him.
“What first drew me to the Jesuits was being taught by people whom I admired,” Godfrey said. “These were people who were bright, funny, sympathetic and devoted to the students that were in their classes.”
Upon graduation, Godfrey applied to a standard university, as well as to the Jesuits.
“I was accepted for that college and accepted by the Jesuits, so I had a decision to make,” Godfrey said.
Godfrey recalled how this admiration of the Jesuits in his high school helped him make this life-changing decision, and right out of graduation, he traveled to Poughkeepsie, New York, where he began his Jesuit journey.
After being ordained in 1969, Godfrey attended the University of Toronto to study philosophy of religion. In 1976, Godfrey joined St. Joe’s as a professor of philosophy.
Godfrey knew his speciality — philosophy of religion — and in 1976, Godfrey said he was the first to both introduce philosophy of religion as a class and teach it at St. Joe’s. This course continues to be offered.
Throughout his time at St. Joe’s, Godfrey taught more philosophy courses, including a course in atheism. He said that as a devout Jesuit, it raised challenges but was important to address.
“That’s the challenge, to show that it’s possible not to be afraid of questions that require thought and conversation,” Godfrey said. “That was true for philosophy of religion and true for the course in atheism. So, being courageous in asking the questions about the human person, morality, religion, atheism, those are some of the contributions I made in the classroom.”
Godfrey was named the inaugural holder of the Rev. Joseph S. Hogan, S.J., class of 1903, Endowed Chair in Philosophy during his time at St. Joe’s and received two teaching awards in 1986 and 1992, respectively.
Outside of the classroom, Godfrey has a love for the outdoors, and has always been particularly drawn to hiking and canoeing.
“I have been a hiker and a canoeist and [spent] vacations canoeing over waters, usually in Canada, and hiking in the Northeast, in the Northwest and in parts of Canada and Nova Scotia,” Godfrey said.
As his time at St. Joe’s comes to an end, Godfrey looks back on his experience as a formative one. His advice is to remain open-minded.
“Be alert to what new challenges there are, what new possibilities there are,” Godfrey said.
