Flynn, James E. (Father)

Father James E. Flynn, SJ, assistant to the rector of the Jesuit Community at Loyola Marymount University, died March 4, 2021, in Los Angeles. He was 78 years of age and a Jesuit for almost 60 years.

Fr. Flynn was born in Los Angeles on August 12, 1942, the youngest son born to Thomas J. Flynn and Catherine Egbert Flynn. After graduating from Bishop Garcia Diego High School in Santa Barbara, he attended Santa Clara University for one year before joining the Jesuits in 1961 at Los Gatos, California. His studies for the priesthood included earning degrees from Gonzaga University (B.A., philosophy), the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley (theology) and Loyola Marymount University (M.A.). He later earned a doctorate in ministry at Andover-Newton Theological School in Massachusetts. He was ordained a priest on June 15, 1972, at St. Jerome Church in Los Angeles.

Fr. Flynn’s ministry included the teaching in the classroom, as well as working in administration and counseling offices. He was a teacher and assistant principal for academics at Loyola High School of Los Angeles; chaplain and principal at Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California; and counselor and Jesuit superior at Brophy College Prep in Phoenix. He served as director of spiritual formation at St. Francis Seminary in San Diego and superior and retreat director at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos, California. On the university level, he held the posts of assistant to the president for University Mission at the University of San Francisco and assistant to the rector of the Jesuit Community of Loyola Marymount.

A memorial service was livestreamed from the St. Francis Xavier Jesuit Community Chapel at LMU on Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at 5:30pm PT linked here: Christus Ministries Youtube page