50 Years a Jesuit in 2025
Father Jeffrey D. Harrison, SJ, who has served as a teacher and pastoral minister in the United States and Belize, this year celebrates his Golden Jesuit Jubilee.
Born in St. Louis, Fr. Harrison graduated from St. Louis University High School in 1975 and entered the Jesuit novitiate in Denver that same year. He completed his first studies at Saint Louis University, earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and master’s degree in history. He served his regency at De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis, where he taught history. He completed his theological studies at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.
Following priestly ordination in 1987, Fr. Harrison moved to Colorado, where he was a teacher and activities director at Regis Jesuit High School. He was missioned with the Jesuit Refugee Service to Kenya and Sudan in 1994 and served there for two years. Father Harrison taught at St. Louis University High School from 1996 to 2007 and served as superior of the St. Matthew Jesuit Community, then located at St. Matthew’s Parish in north St. Louis.
From 2007 to 2011, Fr. Harrison was superior of the Jesuit Community of Belize in Belize City. He taught history at Regis Jesuit High School in Denver from 2011 to 2017 and also served as the community superior.
In 2018, Fr. Harrison returned to St. Louis. He assisted with pastoral ministry at De Smet Jesuit High School as well as at the Jesuit Archives and Research Center. He was a research assistant for the Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation Project conducted by the Jesuit Archives & Research Center in 2019 and 2020 and 2021 to 2024. The project sought to determine the extent of Jesuit involvement in slaveholding, identify the descendants of those enslaved by the Jesuits, and seek accountability and reconciliation for wrongdoing.
Father Harrison was pastoral minister in Belize in 2020 and 2021, and returned to St. Louis in 2022 to serve as the canonical pastor of St. Matthew the Apostle Church during the province’s departure from the parish in 2023. He now is missioned to pastoral ministry to the black community in north Saint Louis.
