Fr. Patrick Rogers, S.J.

Director of Catholic Chaplaincy
Age: 50
Hometown: Annapolis, Md.
Time at Georgetown: 9 years

What drew you to your field?
A profound interest in helping people find meaning in their lives.

What drew you to Georgetown specifically?
I was asked to apply for a job here by my provincial; it’s a little different for Jesuits. I never thought I’d ever end up here, because most of my work has been with poorer Latin American and African American communities, so I was pretty surprised. I was asked to work here, but I’ve really loved it.

What do you love most about your job?
Two things: The colleagues that I have both in and outside of my department are phenomenal, and the quality of students and the level of engagement intellectually is really quite fascinating, and you don’t see that at every university. 

What do you find most challenging about it?
For me, as the director of Catholic chaplaincy, the real challenge is all of the administrative and human resources things I have to do. I’m a pastor first and foremost, so I’ll be sitting here at my desk, needing to get reports out to vice presidents, and all of a sudden, a kid knocks on my door and the report has to wait. Sometimes it’s hard to balance the administrative tasks and the pastoral responsibilities.

How could students take greater advantage of the resources offered by the campus ministry? Do you think they should?
I think they should, I really think they should just ask. Campus ministry has so much to offer, and our chaplains are some of the best colleagues I’ve ever worked with; they’re caring, compassionate people who are very open to answering questions and engaging with students.

Can you describe a memorable experience you’ve had since you started working here?
My most memorable experiences have been while I’ve been saying Mass and while hearing confessions, because I think that those times are the ones in which I really touch people’s humanity and my own humanity. That’s the most important thing to me; it’s my sacramental lifeline. 

What’s something you do in your job that most people might not realize at first glance?
I don’t really know what people think I do. I think some people may be shocked by the administrative responsibilities of my job, and that’s a two-edged sword. It’s an honor to supervise the people that work in campus ministry, but it takes a lot of time, and it’s not that it’s time not well spent. I love my colleagues, but the demands of a kid coming to you in crisis in the middle of the night — there isn’t much time for flexibility in a time like that.

What are the costs and benefits to working at a university as opposed to elsewhere in the country or the world?
In terms of upsides, the most amazing people fly through here. Barack Obama has been here three times — are you kidding me? Congressmen, senators — I met Governor Schwarzenegger. Hillary Clinton has used this office twice; she’s had daylong conferences sitting right where you’re sitting. That doesn’t happen everywhere. I live on 35th Street; Secretary Kerry lives around the corner and Justice Breyer lives across the street. This kind of stuff happens at Georgetown. Are there any downsides? No.

How do you see the services of campus ministry — the one-on-one work — interacting with the academic aspects of theology we teach here?
All of us have degree in theology, but we are not all hired to teach theology here. The theology department is very distinct from campus ministry, and it’s supposed to be. Many of our people do teach as adjuncts, but that’s not our primary job. Our primary job is pastoral care and adult faith formation. Regardless of your religious beliefs, our job is to help you grow and understand your faith from a personal point of view instead of academically. Our job is to help you engage your existential sense of self.

Interview by Alexander Brown