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2022 Ordination

Joseph M. Kraemer, SJ, was born and raised in Richmond, Indiana, by his amazing parents, Mike and Melanie Kraemer, and with two awesome brothers, Mitch and Matthew. When Joe was 13, after he had expressed some curiosity about the priesthood, his father drove him to Xavier University in Cincinnati to meet his first Jesuit vocation director. Joe attended Hillsdale College in Michigan and majored in English with an emphasis in Shakespeare. After graduation, he was blessed to work at the Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger in Washington, D.C. When his boss became director of the Drama Division at the Juilliard School, Joe was hired to help create and run the Playwrights Program there. For the next 15 years, he found great joy working at Lincoln Center and shepherding young writers and actors. While in New York, Joe also taught dramatic writing at Barnard College and sold a television show with his writing partner to Warner Bros. Television, where he later worked for the actors Martin and Charlie Sheen in their film and television production company. Thirty years after meeting the Jesuits in Cincinnati, Joe joined the Society of Jesus in Los Angeles. As a novice, Joe loved his apostolic work serving in prison ministry with the Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative and living in a L’Arche intentional community in Seattle with people who have intellectual disabilities. He received his master’s degree in philosophy from the University of London and enjoyed his regency assignment fundraising with the Jesuits West Province Advancement Office. Most recently, Joe earned his Master of Divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University and served as a deacon at Corpus Christi Parish in Piedmont, California. His first Mass will be at his home parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. After ordination, Joe is eager to return to active prison ministry and his first assignment will be with the Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative NW, based in Seattle.

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