Somfai, Béla (Father)

Fr. Béla Somfai died on April 6, at René Goupil House, in Pickering, ON. He was 83 and a Jesuit for almost 63 years.

Fr. Somfai was born in Hungary where he entered the Society on September 14, 1952. After regency, he began philosophy at the Gregorian University in Rome where he earned a licentiate.

In 1959, he came to Regis College to begin his theology. He was ordained a priest on June 18, 1961.  In 1965, Fr. Somfai taught at Loyola High School in Montreal and then went on to do doctoral studies in moral theology at the University of Ottawa, where he earned a PhD. He was awarded an S.T.D. degree from Saint Paul University, Ottawa.

While still working on his doctorate, he became a member of the faculty of Loyola College in Montreal. In 1969, he began teaching moral theology and medical ethics at Regis College, Toronto. During his time at Regis, he became the dean and also province prefect of studies. He retired from the College in 1994 and returned to Hungary where he taught in the diocesan seminary of Szeged and at Sapientia University in Budapest.

In 2014, he returned to Canada and took up residence at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish, Toronto. Ill health had him assigned to René Goupil House in early 2015.