Father Paul Patin, SJ, has been a Jesuit priest for 50 years.

Now in a ministry of prayer, most of Fr. Patin’s Jesuit service has been in pastoral and spiritual ministries. Following his ordination in 1973, Fr. Patin served as the director of pastoral activities at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory School in Houston for two years, before becoming associate pastor of St. Charles Church in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. He was named pastor a year later and remained until 1980.

After serving briefly as an associate pastor at St. John Berchmans Church in Shreveport, Louisiana, Fr. Patin became a hospital chaplain at Lafayette General Hospital in Louisiana.

He returned to St. John Berchmans Church in 1986 and continued pastoral ministries in New Orleans at Holy Name of Jesus a year later.

From 1992 to 1997, Fr. Patin served as parochial vicar for St. Ignatius Loyola Parish in Spring, Texas. He then returned to Holy Name of Jesus from 1997 to 2003.

In 2004, Fr. Patin began a new ministry, one focused on spiritual and retreat direction, serving at Our Lady of the Oaks Retreat House and the Jesuit Spirituality Center, both in Grand Coteau; Sacred Heart Jesuit Retreat House in Sedalia, Colorado, and Manresa House of Retreats in Convent, Louisiana.

Father Patin earned a Bachelor of Arts at Spring Hill College, Master of Divinity from Saint Louis University and a master’s in applied linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin.