May 21, 2023 – Two members of the Jesuits USA Central and Southern (UCS) Province will be ordained priests on Saturday, June 8, 2024. You can watch live at 10:00 a.m. CDT at bit.ly/ordinations2024. A worship aid is available here.
Daniel J. Everson, SJ, and J. Michael Mohr, SJ, entered the Society of Jesus in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, at the same time in 2013. After more than a decade of formation, they will be ordained together at St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis.
The Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson, Archbishop Emeritus of St. Louis, will preside, with Provincial Thomas P. Greene, SJ, presenting the two men for priestly ordination.
Everson and Mohr are among the 19 Jesuits to be ordained in the United States, Canada and Haiti this year. All have extensive and holistic training intentionally designed to equip them to serve as pastors, educators, ministers and leaders in the Catholic Church of today – and tomorrow.
Daniel Everson, SJ, was born in St. Louis and baptized soon after in a small chapel at Jesuit Hall on the campus of Saint Louis University. After graduating from St. Louis University High School, he attended the University of Missouri, where he became an active parishioner at the St. Thomas More Newman Center and began to notice a call to the priesthood.
Following his college graduation, he joined the Jesuits’ Alum Service Corps (ASC), which allowed him to spend time with Jesuits, getting to know their ministries and Ignatian spirituality. As an ASC volunteer, he taught sophomore English at De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis and fell in love with the work of Jesuit education. It was as an ASC that he first truly experienced the joy of working for the good of others.
That fall, during a “Come and See” retreat at the same Jesuit Hall where he was baptized, Everson decided to apply to the Society of Jesus.
He entered the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, in 2013. After pronouncing first vows in the Society of Jesus, he completed a master’s degree in social philosophy at Loyola University Chicago, where he served as chaplain of the softball team and made weekly visits to a shelter for migrant youth who had crossed the border without a parent or legal guardian.
His regency, or ministerial assignment, was at Arrupe Jesuit High School in Denver, where he thrived as a freshman theology teacher and coordinator of the community service program. He also prepared the Music Club to play at Masses and coached baseball and volleyball.
While earning his Master of Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, he served as a small-group faith-sharing facilitator on the main Santa Clara campus. Following his diaconate ordination, he served as a deacon at St. Ambrose Parish in Berkeley, California.
After ordination, Fr. Everson will return to Arrupe Jesuit High School in Denver to serve as assistant principal for mission.
Michael Mohr, SJ, was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A graduate of Catholic High School, he first began thinking about religious life thanks to the witness of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, to whom he remains grateful.
During high school and college, he spent his summers working with youth in the Navajo Nation. After graduating from Millsaps College, Mohr taught high school English at St. Joseph Catholic School in Madison, Mississippi. During those three years, the idea of serving the church as a priest and teacher became more and more attractive. He entered the Society of Jesus at the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, in August 2013, alongside Dan Everson.
Mohr studied philosophy at Saint Louis University and completed his regency at St. Louis University High School. While there, he taught English and theology, assisted with the band, and helped with pastoral ministry and retreats.
Much of Mohr’s formation was shaped by numerous international experiences of service and study, including Spanish studies in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico; service with Indigenous communities in Guyana; pastoral work in Belize; teaching English in Vietnam to brother Jesuits; working with Jesuit Refugee Service in Uganda; and studying theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. During his three years in Rome, Michael participated in Living Stones, a young adult group focused on spiritual formation and giving faith-based art and architectural visits through different churches.
After ordination, Fr. Mohr will pursue a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry.
Do you think you might be called to life as a Jesuit? Visit www.BeAJesuit.org to begin exploring.
