CHICAGO – Joel Medina smiles when he thinks of the old adage, “life begins at 40.” After 25 years of serving people as a registered nurse, Joel joined the Jesuits. At age 47, he added the initials S.J. and, through his Jesuit formation, M.Div. to his list of credentials that already included R.N. and B.S.N.  
 
It may seem like a lot of initials tagged to one guy’s name, but for Medina each professional and academic credential marks a milestone in his journey to a life of serving and praying for others. When he is ordained a Roman Catholic priest by Most Reverend William D’Souza, a Jesuit and Archbishop of Nepal in India, on Saturday, June 11, at St. Xavier Church, in Cincinnati, he’ll be known simply as Fr. Joel.
 
Born in McAllen, Texas, in 1955, Medina grew up with five sisters and two brothers. His mom and dad moved the family from Texas to Illinois and finally to Michigan.
 
By age 19, Medina was working as a nursing assistant in a mental health unit in Jackson, Michigan. The nursing students who rotated through the unit motivated him to enroll in Jackson Community College to become a registered nurse or R.N. Medina went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing, B.S.N., from Wayne State University in Detroit.
 
“I worked as a registered nurse for over 25 years and it provided me with many clinical opportunities to be of service to people,” Medina said. “Yet, I had a desire for more from life and concomitantly I felt called by God to discern a vocation to the Society of Jesus.”
 
So in 2002, at the age of 47, he entered the Society of Jesus, Chicago-Detroit Province’s Novitiate at Loyola House in Berkley, Michigan, where he began 10 years of Jesuit formation through First Studies, Regency, Theology, and Ordination. Each step is filled with study, prayer, teaching, internships and experiences (called experiments), ministry, spiritual retreats, and living in community. During Theology, Medina earned a Master of Divinity, M.Div., from Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, Boston, Massachusetts.
 
As he stands on the threshold of his ordination, Medina looks forward to the new opportunities ahead as a Chaplain at John H. Stroger, Jr., Hospital of Cook County, Illinois, and as a part-time assistant at St. Procopius Church in Chicago.
 
 “As a Jesuit priest, I wish to encourage people on their faith journey,” Medina said. “I will invite my brothers and sisters to listen to him and rest in him. I do believe that our Lord provides us with the graces to return to him and he encourages us on our faith journey.”

About The Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
The Society of Jesus, also known as Jesuits is a religious order of priests and brothers in the Roman Catholic Church. For more than 460 years, the Jesuits have served in the spirit of St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the order in 1540. Jesuits serve throughout the United States and the World in educational institutions, parishes, retreat centers, social justice ministries, international ministries, and intellectual apostolates. The more than 500 Midwest Jesuits serve in 66 ministries in 12 states from the Great Lakes to the Great Plains. To learn more please visit www.jesuits-chgdet.org and www.jesuitpartners.org.