Coleman, John A. (Father)

January 17, 2025

Father John A. Coleman, SJ, both a noted sociologist who studied the intersection of religion and public life and policy and a parish priest, died January 17, 2025, at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, California.

Father John A. Coleman, SJ, both a noted sociologist who studied the intersection of religion and public life and policy and a parish priest, died January 17, 2025, at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, California. He was 87 years old and a Jesuit for 70 years.

Fr. Coleman was born in San Francisco on March 27, 1937, the youngest of five children of Daniel Coleman and Nora Mulcahy Coleman. Raised in the Mission District, he attended St. Ignatius College Prep and after graduating in 1954, entered the Jesuit novitiate at Los Gatos to study for the priesthood. After earning degrees in sociology and philosophy at Saint Louis University he taught sociology and economics at his alma mater, St. Ignatius. In addition to his teaching, he found time to co-author a sociology textbook. He earned a master’s in theology at the Alma College campus of Santa Clara University and was ordained a priest in St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco in 1967.

He pursued graduate studies in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley under the direction of the renowned sociologist Robert N. Bellah, earning a doctorate in 1974. The two men remained lifelong friends. His dissertation research on Dutch Catholicism took him to Amsterdam, where he became fluent in Dutch. He later published his findings in his book, The Evolution of Dutch Catholicism, 1958-1974.

Fr. Coleman held a number of teaching positions over a long career, primarily professor of religion and society at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley (1974-1997) and professor of social values (1997-2003) and holding the Casassa Chair of Social Values (2005-2009), both at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He also held the position of Thomas More Professor of Jesuit Studies at the University of Western Australia in Perth (2004-2005) and held other visiting professorships at universities in the United States and abroad.

Fr. Colemen’s published work is impressive: 18 books written or edited, chapters contributed to 65 books, 118 articles in scholarly journals and general periodicals, and around 100 book reviews.

Notable publications include An American Strategic Theology, One Hundred Years of Catholic Social Teaching, Globalization and Catholic Social Thought, and Christian Political Ethics.

He was a frequent lecturer and presenter at conferences and workshops worldwide. By his own count, he visited 42 countries, many several times over.

In 2009 Fr. Coleman left academia and served as associate pastor at St. Ignatius Church in San Franciso. He was noted for his well-crafted homilies, drawing on Scripture, literature and poetry, and his work with adult faith formation programs. In 2022 he came to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center for a ministry of prayer.

He is survived by cousin Will Mulcahy and many members of the extended Coleman, Mulcahy, Nielsen, and Chermack families.

The Funeral Mass will be held on Monday, February 24, 2025, at 2 p.m. at St. Ignatius Church on the campus of the University of San Francisco, 650 Parker Avenue San Francisco 94118. It will be livestreamed on the parish’s YouTube channel. Inurnment at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery will be at a later date.

Donations in memory of Fr. Coleman may be made to the Jesuits West Province of the Society of Jesus, P.O. Box 68, Los Gatos, CA 95031, or to a charity of your choosing.