Father Donald Gelpi, SJ

Father Donald Gelpi, an author and professor emeritus at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, died May 6 in St. Louis, Missouri, after a long illness. He was 76 and had been a Jesuit for 59 years as well as a priest for 46 years.

He was born in New Orleans, joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1951, and completed his novitiate and humanistic studies at St. Charles College in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, by 1954. He studied at St. Louis University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and letters in 1957 and a master’s degree in philosophy a year later.

Between 1958 and 1961 he taught at Jesuit High School in New Orleans. Then he studied theology at the College of St. Albert in Louvain, Belgium, and at St. Mary’s College in Kansas. He was ordained in 1965, and received a licentiate in sacred theology (STL) degree. In 1971 he received a doctoral degree in philosophy at Fordham University.

He taught philosophy at Loyola University in New Orleans before joining the faculty at the Jesuit School of Theology (JSTB) in Berkeley in the fall of 1973. There he helped found and coordinate the Institute for Spirituality and Worship. In 1979 he co-founded the John Courtney Murray Group, a research seminar in theological inculturation. During the 1993-1994 academic year he was a Luce Fellow at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

Father Gelpi frequently led Saturday hikes in the parks of the Bay Area while at Berkeley. He also sponsored wilderness weekend trips for JSTB students in the fall, winter and spring of every school year. The priest also played the ukulele, did needlepoint and sketched with oil pastels, said Jesuit Father Michael Dooley, provincial of the New Orleans Province, in the official statement of Father Gelpi’s death.

Even after he became an emeritus professor at JSTB in 1999, Father Gelpi continued to both teach and write. During his life he wrote more than 20 books, including “Life and Light: A Guide to the Theology of Karl Rahner” and “Closer Walk: Confessions of a U.S. Jesuit Yat.” His articles appeared in numerous magazines such as “The Current” and “America.”

He was preceded in death by his parents, and he is survived by his brother, Albert J. Gelpi Jr. of Stanford.

The funeral Mass took place May 9 at St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis, Missouri. Burial followed at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.

— Carrie McClish

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