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Fr. Michael Kennedy, S.J.

Fr. Mike Kennedy, SJ was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1977, and even before that he had dedicated his life to working with the poor and marginalized. After ordination, Mike was assigned to be the pastor of Christ the King Parish in San Diego, one of the poorest parishes in the Diocese. While at Christ the King, he helped to start the San Diego Organizing Project where parishioners and other local residents worked together to advocate for social change in their neighborhoods. After leaving Christ the King, Mike helped to start Proyecto Pastoral in Los Angeles, a non-profit which continues to work to this day to help refugees and undocumented people in and around the Los Angeles area. Mike has also worked as an associate pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels Parish (La Placita) when Fr. Luis Olivares was the pastor.

After six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter were assassinated in El Salvador in November of 1989, Mike moved to El Salvador to work with the Jesuit Refugee Service until the Civil War ended. From 1994 to 2007, Mike was the pastor of Dolores Mission Parish in East Los Angeles. While at Dolores Mission, he met countless families whose lives were torn apart by gang violence and crime. After being elected to represent California Jesuits at the 33rd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus in Rome in 2007, Fr. Mike returned to California and founded another non-profit, the Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative, in order to create restorative justice practices and retreats for incarcerated people, and especially for youth tried as adults. 

Mike is the author of a number of books, including The Jesus Meditations, Eyes on Jesus, and Eyes on the Cross. He has spoken throughout California and the United States on his method of Ignatian meditation, and he has been recognized by the California Chief of Probation Officers and the City of Los Angeles for his work in transforming the lives of incarcerated youth, their families, and communities. He presently continues to serve as the Executive Director of the Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative.