The Ave Maria Herald - Fr. Fessio Dismissed Again from AMU

Fr. Fessio Dismissed Again from AMU

Details: Published on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 00:55

Fr. Joseph Fessio's formal association with Ave Maria University appears to be over. The university confirmed Monday night that the Jesuit priest was dismissed as theologian-in-residence, a position he has held since March 2007, after he was fired as the university's provost.

Fr. Fessio said in a statement that he was informed of the university's decision Monday by the university's vice president of Academic Affairs, Jack Sites, who told him that the school's decision stemmed from a conversation Fr. Fessio had last November with then-AMU Board Chairman Jack Donahue. In that conversation, Fr;. Fessio said he expressed concerns about the university's fiscal policies and said that "the present administration was irrevocably wedded to those policies, and that without a change of administration the university was at great risk."

The university issued a brief statement Monday thanking Fr. Fessio for his service to the school and saying that the decision to fire him was supported by the school's Board of Trustees.

In his statement, Fr. Fessio said that he continues to support AMU and will continue to recommend it. Reached by phone in San Francisco, he said declined to elaborate on the specific nature of his concerns about the university's finances and priorities.

Although he won't be teaching at the university, Fr. Fessio said he expected to visit Ave Maria several times a year. "Ignatius Press (of which he is president) has a house in Ave Maria and I'll want to come back from time to time, particularly to see some plays and musical performances."

"There's a lot of good going on in that place," he said.

More information and background on Fr. Fessio's time at Ave Maria can be found in a Naples Daily News story here.

When Fr. Fessio was dismissed as provost in March 2007, the AMU campus -- then located at the Vineyards -- became roiled in protest and he was hired back a day later as theologian-in-residence. Since then, he has kept a relatively low profile and many in the community had speculated that it was only a matter of time before he was dismissed again, probably this summer.