Father Greg Waldrop, SJ, recently began a sabbatical after serving for ten years as a professor at Loyola University New Orleans, as well as rector and province consultor in the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province. This year, he celebrates the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.
A native Texan, Fr. Waldrop has been educated around the country and abroad. He completed undergraduate studies at Yale, earning a bachelor’s degree in English in 1984. He then studied architecture at Harvard University before earning a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University in 1989. That same year, he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Grand Coteau, Louisiana. Father Waldrop completed his philosophy studies at Loyola University New Orleans in 1993 before being missioned to Jesuit High School in Tampa, Florida, for his regency. He completed his theology studies in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University and was ordained to the diaconate during his time there. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1999 after earning a Master of Theology in spirituality and spiritual direction from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Father Waldrop’s doctoral studies in art history with a specialization in the art and architecture of Renaissance Italy culminated in a Ph.D. in art history from the University of California Berkeley in 2009. He then joined the faculty at Fordham University, a Jesuit college in the Bronx, New York, as an assistant professor of art history and executive director of the art collection until 2014. He then began his tenure at Loyola New Orleans, where he also served as secretary and treasurer of the board of trustees during his time as rector, from 2019 through 2024.
Father Waldrop’s 18 years of post-graduate education have prepared him to love the classroom. He considers teaching a privilege.
In his roles as rector of the Loyola Jesuit Community and province consultor, Fr. Waldrop contributes to the work of the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province by supporting Jesuit collaboration across apostolates and advising the provincial. “We have to discern our mission together and what it means practically,” he says. “Service of the Faith and the promotion of justice remain our priorities; that’s the contemporary mission of the Society in a nutshell. To carry it out, we must, above all, be grounded in Jesus Christ, who gives us courage and strength and creativity.”
With all these responsibilities calling on his many talents, Fr. Waldrop says his favorite ministry is preaching and presiding at liturgies. “Priest” remains his ultimate calling.
Read more about Fr. Waldrop’s ministry here.
