Jesuit Priest and Educator Invites Students to Deeper Faith
By Rachel Amiri
Father Daniel Tesvich, SJ, began a journey to embracing his Catholic faith in a university classroom. Today, as a Jesuit priest and educator, he hopes to provide means in his own classroom and beyond where students can come to understand and live the Catholic faith.
“I think what I most love about being a Jesuit is being able to celebrate the sacraments with young men who are just being formed in life and getting to know themselves in the world, making crucial decisions about themselves. To help feed them and guide them spiritually during this time is something that gives me great joy,” said Fr. Tesvich.
Father Tesvich has just completed his first year at St. Louis University High School, after spending the previous eight years at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2025, he celebrates 25 years in the Society of Jesus.
Raised nominally Catholic in Chalmette, Louisiana, Fr. Tesvich was surprised to encounter the intellectual depth of a Catholic political science professor during his time at Louisiana State University (LSU).
“I would ask him questions about the Catholic faith, and one day he said, ‘You know, Danny, if you want to know more about the Catholic faith, you should just start going to Mass. And so, he took me to Mass, and I’ve been hooked ever since,” he recounted.
During his time at LSU, Fr. Tesvich felt called to the priesthood, and transferred to St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict, Louisiana, where he studied for the priesthood for the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Through a spiritual director there, he became interested in Ignatian spirituality.
“The more I got interested, the hungrier I felt for Ignatian spirituality, and from there, for learning more about the Jesuits and their worldwide mission and different apostolates. I felt a call to continue my priestly formation within the Society of Jesus,” said Fr. Tesvich. He entered St. Charles College, the Jesuit novitiate then in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, in 2000.
He came to love Jesuit secondary education early on in his Jesuit formation. A memorable novitiate experiment at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory School in Houston, where he lived in apostolic community for the first time, and later his regency at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas were deeply formative for him.
“It was just totally different than any of my expectations,” said Fr. Tesvich of the Jesuit high school experience.
After a challenging first year in Dallas, he said advice from Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, SJ, and other colleagues helped him find his “rhythm” in the classroom.
“It was a growth period of learning how to teach and learning how to interact with students,” he said. Clarity and high expectations frame his approach to teaching the habits of learning that allow for personal growth and deeper understanding in his students.
Father Tesvich was missioned to Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri in 2016. He taught theology and assisted with campus ministry there for eight years before moving to St. Louis University High School in 2024, where he teaches freshmen and juniors and assists with pastoral ministry.
Father Tesvich has observed an openness among his students to the Catholic faith in his theology classes on scriptures and morality, as well as in a seminar on faith and reason. In that upper-level course, he exposes students to common objections to religion and Catholicism, as well as to the deep thinkers who have responded to those questions throughout the Church’s history.
“The idea is to show the students the intellectual depth and reasonableness of the Catholic faith,” he said.
These are the same questions and answers that initially drew him to faith as a young adult.
“Once I saw that religious faith was a reasonable position, then I was more open to it. But it was really going to Mass with other Catholics and feeling in my heart God’s love for me, that’s what got me hooked and activated my faith,” he said.
As a Jesuit priest, he can lead students to that encounter with the Lord through sacramental ministry and preaching. “The gift of the ministerial priesthood is an awesome responsibility but also a great gift, to be an instrument of God’s grace to his people,” he said.
After 25 years as a Jesuit, what Fr. Tesvich most enjoys is to see his students surprised by the depth of the Catholic faith.
“To see them go deeper into their faith and really make it their own, rather than just accepting it from their parents, that’s a great pleasure. And it’s also a great pleasure when people who have no contact with Catholicism, maybe nominally Catholic, come to see the truth and goodness and beauty of Catholicism. That’s a great joy, those kind of conversion moments.”
Featured image: Fr. Danny Tesvich, SJ, celebrates all-school Mass at St. Louis University High School.
