Fr. I. Michael Bellafiore, 42, from Cranston, R.I., has a BA in literature from MIT and an MFA in drama from Catholic University of America. He taught English at Boston College High and wrote and acted in the "Story of the Pilgrim," a play on the life of Ignatius, which toured the United States and was made into a video. Michael was a spiritual director intern at Eastern Point Retreat House, worked at the Jesuit Center in Jordan, and also served the elderly and disabled in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. His great uncle was a Capuchin and a cousin is a Dominican. (New England Province)

Fr. Matthew Carnes, 33, from San Carlos, Calif., has a bachelor's degree in international relations from Stanford University. He taught and coached water polo and swimming at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose, Calif. He has helped with hurricane reconstruction projects in Honduras, taught in the Philippines, and developed Kairos retreats for inner-city youth in Oakland. He has visited Jesuit missions in Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil and will work toward a doctorate in political science, studying questions of Latin American rural political participation. (California Province)

Fr. Roger de la Rosa, 39, from Panganiban, Philippines, has a BA in chemistry from the University of San Francisco and an MA and PhD in the subject from the University of California Santa Barbara. He taught chemistry at Loyola Marymount University and Red Cloud Indian School. He has been a Eucharistic minister to the elderly in Spokane and has done prison ministry in Boston. His hobbies include photography, writing poetry, and baking. Next year he will teach chemistry at Xavier University in the Philippines. (California Province)

Fr. Ronald Gonzales, 36, from Santa Fe, has a bachelor's degree in religious studies from Loyola University New Orleans. He taught theology at Jesuit High in Tampa and did volunteer work at an AIDS residence in Chicago. He gave preached retreats at Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in Louisiana and did a summer internship at El Retiro Retreat House in California, where he learned how to give eight-day directed retreats. After ordination, he hopes to work in parish ministry. He makes excellent red beans and rice. (New Orleans Province)

Fr. Michael Guzik, 35, from Richfield Springs, N.Y., has a BA in history from St. John Fisher College and an MA in history from State University New York. He taught, moderated the yearbook, and cofounded a Christian Life Community at St. Peter's Prep in Jersey City. He has taught CCD and English as a second language and has served as a support person for a JVC community. He has studied Aikido and enjoys playing the trumpet. After ordination he will serve at St. Anthony's Parish in Oceanside, N.Y. (New York Province)

Fr. James Kelly, 45, from Davenport, Iowa, has BAs in economics and government from Beloit College and an MBA from Washington University. He taught Christian ethics and economics at Gonzaga College High and was a moderator of the crew team. At Saint Joseph's University he taught finance and took part in a spring break service trip to Appalachia. He taught English to Jesuit scholastics in Poland and studied Spanish in Guatemala and Bolivia. His first assignment as a priest will be at St. Peter's Parish in Charlotte, N.C. (Maryland Province)

Fr. Christopher Lockard, 42, from Tampa, has bachelor's degrees in political science and Spanish from the University of Mississippi and a law degree from the University of Florida. At Loyola University New Orleans he taught, worked in campus ministry, and directed a pro-bono legal program. He taught English in the Dominican Republic and religious education to inner-city children in New York. He heads to Washington, D.C., after ordination to work with Catholic Charities as a social policy advocate. (New Orleans Province)

Fr. Gregory Lynch, 34, from San Francisco, received a bachelor's degree in political science from Creighton University and taught history at Creighton Prep, where he will resume teaching and working in campus ministry after ordination. In 2000, he took a group of students to Lithuania to train young people there in retreat ministry. He also did an internship in directing eight-day retreats at El Retiro Retreat House in Los Altos, Calif. While at Weston, he assisted as deacon at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Chelsea, Mass. (Wisconsin Province)

Fr. Jeremiah Lynch, 53, from Chicago, with a BA in history from Loyola University Chicago and a law degree from DePaul University, taught English and philosophy at San Ignacio Jesuit High in Piura, Peru. In Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Boston he worked with numerous immigrants, especially among a large community of refugees from Cuba. He is interested in immigration policy and relations between the Jesuits in the United States and Latin America. He's an avid cyclist and student of Spanish language and literature. (Chicago Province)

Fr. Dan Mai, 33, from Saigon, Viet Nam, has a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Washington and a master's degree in counseling psychology from Gonzaga University. He was a counselor and math teacher at Gonzaga Prep and a crisis hotline volunteer in Spokane. He coordinated social justice and service programs for Seattle University's campus ministry. He enjoys travel (he's visited 48 states) and learning languages. His first assignment as a priest will be at St. Ignatius Church in Portland, Ore. (Oregon Province)

Fr. Christopher Manahan, 46, from Rochester, Minn., has BAs in political science and journalism from the University of Minnesota and social studies and secondary education from the University of Northern Iowa and a master's in American Studies from Saint Louis University. He taught government and geography at Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota and interned at America magazine in New York. He is the eighth of nine children, and his brother Tom is also a Jesuit; his family also boasts of two professional golfers. (Wisconsin Province)

Fr. James Marshall, 40, from El Paso, received a BA in business administration from New Mexico State. He taught theology and computer science at Jesuit College Prep in Dallas and orked as a hospital chaplain. He has also worked in an orphanage in Mexico, taught English to scholastics in Poland, and directed retreats at a women's prison. Three of his cousins are priests: two are Jesuits and one is Episcopalian. He is interested in pro-life ministry and likes to play the trumpet, sing, bowl, and do genealogical research. (New Orleans Province)

Fr. Joaquin Martinez, 37, from Manila, Philippines, has a degree in biology from the University of the Philippines. During regency he taught at Loyola High School in Los Angeles. He received teaching credentials from Loyola Marymount University; after ordination he will pursue a degree in educational administration at Harvard. He has spent a summer teaching English in the Philippines and has worked as a deacon with a Filipino community in San Jose, where he preached in Tagalog on the weekends. (California Province)

Fr. Bernard McAniff, 48, from Rochester, N.Y., has a BA and an MA in English from Nazareth College of Rochester and Loyola University Chicago respectively, and has an interest in Irish literature. He taught English and supervised the mock trial team at St. Xavier High in Cincinnati. He spent a summer in China teaching English and did retreat work in Blue Ridge Summit, Pa., and Los Altos, Calif. After ordination he will begin work on an MA at Harvard's School of Education and continue weekend work at a parish in Quincy, Mass. (Chicago Province)

Fr. James McDermott, 33, from Mt. Prospect, Ill., has a BA in English from Marquette and an MA in English from Harvard. His interests range from film and television to interreligious dialogue. He taught English and drove a bus at Red Cloud High School in South Dakota, taught students at Cabrini Green in Chicago, and ministered to homeless youth in Boston. Last summer he made a film for the USC film school starring fellow ordinand Ron Gonzales (page 23). He will work on staff at Gesu Parish in Milwaukee after ordination. (Wisconsin Province)

Fr. Jeffrey McDougall, 34, from Portland, Ore., studied engineering at Oregon State and received a BA in Spanish from Gonzaga University and an MA in school administration from the University of San Francisco. He coached football and taught religion at Jesuit High in Portland. For the past two years he has volunteered at a prison in Massachusetts. This summer he is working at St. Joseph's Parish in Yakima; in the fall he will be assistant principal, campus minister, and teacher at St. Andrew Nativity School in Portland, Ore. (Oregon Province)

Fr. David Meconi, 37, from Detroit, received BAs in business administration and religious studies from Hope College, studied theology in Austria, and is working on a doctorate in philosophy at Oxford. He taught Greek and Latin at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago and taught courses in the classics and philosophy departments at Xavier University, where he was awarded the Alpha Sigma Nu Teacher of the Year Award. For exercise he runs and fences; his family still runs a winery they began in Michigan in 1921. (Chicago Province)

Fr. John Thiede, 33, from Plymouth, Minn., received a BA in theology from Notre Dame. He taught, organized a boys' choir, and was assistant hockey coach at Marquette University High School. He studied philosophy in Chile and spent a summer in Ecuador giving talks on Ignatian spirituality. During his studies he played on a men's hockey team and gained the nickname "Friar Puck." His first assignment after ordination will be at Creighton University, where he will teach theology and serve at St. John's, the campus church. (Wisconsin Province)