Joseph Fessio

The Reverend Father Joseph Fessio SJ
Orders
Ordination	1972
Personal details
Birth name	Joseph Fessio
Born	(1941-01-10) 10 January 1941 (age 76)
Nationality	American
Denomination	Catholic (Latin Church)
Profession	Priest, teacher, editor, journalist

Joseph Fessio SJ (born January 10, 1941) is an American Catholic priest of the Jesuit order and the founder and editor of Ignatius Press. He was the founding provost of Ave Maria University until March 2007.

Fessio attended high school at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California, from 1954 to 1958. He took afterwards undergraduate studies in civil engineering at the University of Santa Clara, California. He entered the Jesuit novitiate on September 7, 1961. Before his ordination to the priesthood, he earned a B.A (in 1966) and an M.A. (in 1967) in Philosophy from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. He also earned an M.A in Theology from his studies in Lyon, France. He was ordained a priest on June 10, 1972.

In 1975, he earned his doctorate in theology from the University of Regensburg, West Germany. His thesis director was Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI. The subject of his thesis was The Ecclesiology of Hans Urs von Balthasar.

From 1966 - 1974 Fessio taught philosophy and theology at Gonzaga University and at the University of Santa Clara and University of San Francisco in California. He was the co-founder Director of Project 50. In 1976 he founded the St. Ignatius Institute at the University of San Francisco, and in 1978 he founded and became the first editor of Ignatius Press. In the following year he became the director of Religious Books on Tape, the audio division of Ignatius Press, until 1987 when he was fired from his position as Director by Father President, John LoSchiavo, S.J., in a dispute over management of a $1,000,000 donation.