Fr. William Farge, S.J.
Spiritual Advisor
I was born in Houston, TX, and after graduation from Strake Jesuit High School in Houston I entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Grand Coteau, LA in 1965. On completion of the two-year novitiate and taking First Vows, I was sent to Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL for one year to begin undergraduate studies and completed the B.A. degree at Loyola University New Orleans in 1971.
My first assignment as a Jesuit was to Japan in 1971 where I completed a two-year course in Japanese language and subsequently taught Theology and English at the Jesuit high school in Hiroshima. I was then sent to Sophia University in Tokyo for theology studies and on completion of the M.A. degree in Theology and the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) I was ordained to the priesthood in Tokyo in 1978. After ordination I returned to the United States for one year and completed a course in spiritual direction and giving Ignatian directed retreats at the Spirituality Center in Grand Coteau, LA. After returning to Japan the next year in 1979 I taught Theology at the Jesuit high school in Kobe until 1990. I continued giving preached and directed retreats and also did missionary work in South Korea and the Philippines.
I returned permanently to the United States in 1990 and was assigned to do doctoral studies in Japanese language and culture at Indiana University in order to be qualified to teach Japanese and Asian history in the language department and the history department at Loyola University New Orleans where I was stationed from 1997 to 2015, except for a two-year visiting professorship at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C in 2006-2008.
In 2015 I was assigned to St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, LA to serve as spiritual director for seminarians and teach as professor of Theological Studies. My six-year term in that position ended in May 2021. I was then assigned to the position of Pastoral Minister at Jesuit High School New Orleans where I am at present doing spiritual direction for faculty, alumni, and students as well as spiritual direction for seminarians at Notre Dame Seminary. I am also engaged in directing the 19thAnnotation Ignatian Retreat. Since 2008 I have been assisting at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church where I offer the Traditional Latin Mass.
I have published two books: The Japanese Translations of the Jesuit Mission Press, 1590-1614 (New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd., 2003) and A Christian Samurai: The Trials of Baba Bunko(Washington DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2016).
