60 Years a Jesuit
Father John V. Craig, SJ, currently serves as chaplain at Buckley Space Force Base. He also serves in pastoral ministry for the Ignatian Spirituality Program in Denver and helps with pastoral ministry at parishes in both the Diocese of Colorado Springs and the Archdiocese of Denver. This year he celebrates his 60th Jubilee as a Jesuit.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, but raised in St. Louis, Fr. Craig entered the Society of Jesus in Florissant, Missouri, on Sept. 1, 1965. He pronounced first vows on Sept. 2, 1967, and was ordained a priest on June 4, 1977, at St. Louis University High School in St. Louis.
Father Craig taught drama and English to high school boys at De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis for the most of the first 40 years of his apostolic life. In 2011, he was assigned to Rockhurst University, where he served in campus ministry. In 2015, he moved to Denver, where he began his pastoral ministry around the broader Denver area. He began his service at Buckley Air Force Base and in the Diocese of Colorado Springs in 2017.
Father Craig earned Bachelor of Arts degrees at Saint Louis University in both philosophy and English-Theater. He studied theology at the Jesuit School of Theology in Chicago, just missing the chance to study alongside Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, as Fr. Craig graduated at the end of May, and Pope Leo arrived at the beginning of September 1977.
