Former Jesuit President Fr. Anthony McGinn, S.J. ’66, has been named the recipient of the prestigious North American Martyrs Award, which will be presented at Alumni Homecoming at 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 2, 2024. This special recognition is given to members of the Society of Jesus who are alumni of Jesuit and who have contributed substantially to the school’s mission over the course of their lives.

Alumni and their guests are invited to Jesuit for Alumni Homecoming to celebrate this occasion. This is a free event, but alumni are asked to register here.

“One truth that Fr. McGinn understands at a deep level is that Jesuit exists as a ministry to families, not merely as an academic institution,” said Fr. John Brown, S.J., Jesuit’s current president. “There is no way to capture Fr. McGinn’s tenure in a few words, but one thing we all know is that his memory of families, birthdays, and personal stories comes out of a genuine concern for those people and where they come from.”

Entering Jesuit as a freshman in the fall of 1962—when tuition was set at $225—a young “Tony” McGinn earned top honors as a student while contributing as a member of the debate team, The Blue Jay newspaper, The Blue Jay Annual yearbook, and the Philelectic Society. After graduating from Jesuit in 1966, he began college at Loyola University before entering the Society of Jesus soon after in 1967. He went on to complete his B.A. at St. Louis University in 1971.

At the time, a majority of Jesuit novices and scholastics spent years working in secondary education, and for his regency “Mr.” McGinn was assigned to Jesuit High School from 1972-1976, also completing his M.A. in history at the University of Texas at Austin around the same time.

Upon completing his formation and spending a year at Jesuit High School in Tampa, newly ordained “Fr.” McGinn returned to his alma mater for his first post-formation assignment as a social studies teacher in 1981. He was named principal shortly thereafter for a three-year stint. Gaining additional administrative experience at Jesuit Tampa, he then returned in 1992 to Jesuit New Orleans to begin his presidency, which would become the longest in the school’s history.

His tenure as president would be marked by institutional growth and stability for Jesuit in contrast to his early observations and experiences as a Jesuit scholastic. For Jesuit, 1972 was a chapter in the school’s internal history characterized by what Fr. McGinn himself later described as “turbulent times at Banks and Carrollton—because [school leaders and faculty members] let ideological conflicts get in the way of their mission.”

The first decade-and-a-half of Fr. McGinn’s presidency led up to the school’s first major modern capital campaign, Tradition Guides Our Future, which renovated and expanded the school’s classrooms and other academic spaces. From modernizing the school’s infrastructure to adding science labs, the school would soon need further updating and repairs after Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005.

Despite the chaos that the storm wrought, Jesuit shined in its response to the storm under Fr. McGinn’s leadership.

“Most of the credit for our recovery from Katrina can be attributed to Fr. McGinn,” said former principal Peter Kernion ’90 on the tenth anniversary of the hurricane. “Jesuit’s emphasis on high expectations with the appropriate support has remained at the forefront, and the school has continued to flourish because of the leadership of Fr. McGinn.”

During this unique moment in the school’s history, Fr. McGinn’s signature clarity and eloquence cut through as clearly as ever, simultaneously educating and inspiring.

Reflecting on the time, Fr. McGinn said, “Katrina brought us great challenges, but it also gave us opportunities. Up to that time some parents frequently used a word that exaggerated their displeasure.  My favorite line from 40 years in education is, ‘My son is devastated that he is playing right field instead of shortstop.’ The overuse of ‘devastated’ as a replacement for ‘disappointed’ indicates unhealthy emotional exaggeration. After the true devastation of Katrina, I seldom heard the word used in a catastrophizing manner.”

“The headmaster of Holy Cross and I were determined that the Jesuit-Holy Cross rivalry game be played in 2005,” he added. “The oldest high school rivalry in Louisiana continued. Strake Jesuit in Houston and St. Martin’s in Metairie together provided space for us to educate 1,000 of our students for the first semester that year. We can never thank them enough for their generosity. To this day, I appreciate the kindness and patience of our friends at that difficult time.”

Fr. McGinn saw the school through the storm’s 5-year aftermath, and in the ensuing years he left Jesuit for a three-year period during which time he served as the Provincial’s Assistant for Secondary Education. His return for a final three-year interim presidency following the passing of Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. ’76, once again brought stability and direction for the school.

Now the pastor at Immaculate Conception Church downtown at the school’s original location on Baronne Street, he continues to serve the Jesuit and New Orleans communities faithfully and tirelessly.

“For generations of Blue Jays, their lived experience of Jesuit is inseparable from their admiration for Fr. McGinn,” said Christian Bautista ’06, Jesuit’s director of institutional advancement. “There are many figures whose influence looms large over the school’s history, but all of us who count Fr. McGinn as a teacher, school leader, or colleague know that this award is the least we can do to recognize the inestimable contribution he has made to Jesuit.”

To the Jesuit community, the New Orleans community, and to the community of Catholic educators throughout the country, Fr. McGinn’s steadfast commitment to Jesuit has demonstrated what it takes for a nearly 200-year institution to remain true to its founding charism and mission.

“Even though life has changed over the past 50 years, the truth has not changed,” Fr. McGinn told graduating seniors in 2023. “Truth remains the same.”