Loyola remembers Fr. Greg Hartley, S.J.
By Pete Davis and Christina Santucci
Issue date: 2/1/05 Section: News
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Hartley was born on Oct. 12, 1948, in Baltimore, Md. and graduated high school from Polytechnic Institute in 1966.
"Greg and I were grammar school buddies -- we went to St. Matthew's school together," said Dr. Charles LoPresto, a Loyola psychology professor and Hartley's long-time friend. "He was a bit left of center even back then and always had a smile -- just a very, very sweet guy."
He entered the Society of Jesus in 1974 but continued to pursue graduate studies at Fordham University before teaching at Georgetown Prep high school. Twelve years later, on June 14, 1986, Hartley was ordained a priest at Loyola College.
After being ordained Hartley entered into the next chapter of his life, where he spent 10 years teaching theology at Loyola Blakefield high school in Towson.
When he finished teaching at Loyola Blakefield, he moved to Germany to practice Zen.
"During the course of his great life-long theological project Greg became more and more interested in the relationships between Zen-Buddhism and Christianity," said the Rev. Eugene M. Geinzer, rector of the Ignatius House Jesuit Community.
After a year in Germany, Hartley returned to Loyola and joined the department of Campus Ministry, where he has worked for the last eight years.
At Loyola, Hartley led a class on pre-marriage counseling and was co-moderator of the JUSTICE club.
In December 2004, Hartley traveled to India and spent a month in prayer at a "bodhizendo."
"The thing I loved about him was that he was always able to reach people that more conventional approaches and Jesuits couldn't reach," LoPresto said.
At memorial services for Hartley, friends and family recalled how the Jesuit was a "fisher of men" and a shepherd who always went after the lost sheep -- because Hartley himself was never quite a conventional man.