Father Richard Vogt, SJ, this year celebrates six decades as a priest. He currently serves as a pastoral minister at the new St. Ignatius Hall Jesuit community in Florissant, Missouri, very near to where he entered the Society of Jesus in 1950 at the age of 18.
Father Vogt started his ministry in 1957 as a teacher of Spanish and English at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri. Following graduate studies and his ordination to the priesthood, he taught Latin, Spanish and English to students at Regis Jesuit High School in Denver, St. Louis University High School and De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis.
He served for one year at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Kansas City, Missouri, before beginning pastoral ministry to Hispanics, first at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, then in the Diocese of Gary, Indiana (1985 – 1992) and then as associate pastor at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Chicago.
He returned to St. Louis as associate pastor of St. Francis Xavier College Church (1998-2001), then at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish (2001-09) and Casa de Salud (2010-12), before beginning an assignment as pastoral minister at the former Jesuit Hall community in St. Louis in 2012. He was a staff member at the Institute of Jesuit Sources from 2013 to 2014.
Father Vogt holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Saint Louis University, as well as a master’s and licentiate in Spanish from the same school.