Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., (COL ’88) returned home to Georgetown as the newly appointed and installed executive director of campus ministry at the beginning of this month.

“Georgetown is an exciting place to do ministry because of the type of students we have here and the variety of faith traditions represented,” O’Brien said.

The search process began after Fr. Timothy Godfrey, S.J., announced in May that he would be leaving his post to pursue a master’s degree in nursing. A search committee composed of 14 administrators, faculty and staff then chose five prospective directors and submitted final recommendations to Fr. Philip Boroughs, S.J., vice president of mission and ministry. On May 20, Boroughs made his selection.

“I am confident that Fr. O’Brien’s deep commitment to Georgetown’s mission, combined with his experience in parish life and ministry at various levels, will enable him to further our ongoing efforts,” Boroughs wrote in an e-mail to students and faculty on May 20.

After graduating from Georgetown, O’Brien attended law school and served as a corporate litigator until 1996, when he joined the Society of Jesus. Ordained in 2006, O’Brien served as an associate pastor at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington before taking the Georgetown post. He began his new job on August 1.

As director of campus ministry, O’Brien said an important part of his vision is to continue and further the university’s commitment to interfaith dialogue.

“I grew up in an interfaith environment, as my father was Catholic and my mother was Presbyterian. I worked for a summer in a leper colony in India among Hindus, and also served as a chaplain in an immigration detention center in Los Angeles, caring for people of all faiths,” he said. “What I have learned from these experiences is to never run from the difficult questions or the difficult conversations that come with interfaith dialogue.”

According to O’Brien, Georgetown is already the leader among Catholic universities in developing campus ministries invested in interfaith dialogue, and he sees it as his mission to continue this effort and find creative ways to do so, along with making the office’s visibility extend beyond its home in Healy Hall.

The new director also focused on the importance of strengthening each ministry’s ability to care for its own community, and the challenge of balancing this with the broader commitment to interfaith dialogue. The university currently has Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish and Orthodox Christian ministries in place.

In addition, O’Brien said he believes ecumenical dialogue – that among different Christian faiths – to be particularly important, and has encouraged the Catholic Students Association to reach out to more Protestant student groups in fostering this dialogue. He also discussed campus ministry’s decision to create the Council of Affiliated Protestant Ministries last year, saying that the results have been “very positive.”

No matter what a student’s faith, O’Brien said, the aim of his ministry is always to help to enliven faith and make sure no one is ever turned away.

“[Our ministry] is not about forcing people to convert or using faith as a weapon, but simply to create a safe place for people to find and meet the living God,” he said.

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