Fr. Jim Schroeder, SCJ, was the presenter at the May edition of “Coffee and Conversations” at Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake. Coffee and Conversations is an opportunity for SCJs to share a bit about themselves and their ministries with lay residents at SHML.
Raised in a farming family in southern Illinois, Fr. Jim professed his first vows when he was 19. His ministry as an SCJ has been wide-ranging. As a seminarian and as a young priest, he visited families in their homes, explaining changes in the new liturgy, often concluding by celebrating a Mass with the family. Fr. Jim served in jail ministry and was a chaplain at the Great Lakes Naval Center, as well as at the cardiac unit at St. Luke’s Hospital in Milwaukee.
He went to graduate school to study psychology with the intention of earning a master’s degree in marriage counseling. However, a fellow SCJ encouraged him to pursue a Ph.D. Eventually, his focus turned toward ministry to fellow ministers: priests and religious. For many years he served as a licensed psychologist at the St. Louis Consultation Center. In an intensive outpatient setting, he often saw six to eight clergy each day and said that he took particular joy in helping a priest, brother or sister get “back in the saddle,” returning to ministry after getting the counseling that he or she needed to address a life concern or issue.
Fr. Jim has served on a variety of committees and commissions and represented the province as a delegate to the General Chapter. He is now retired and is a member of the Sacred Heart Community at SHML.
