Dan Kennedy will graduate from Boston College on Monday summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and the recipient of the school’s most prestigious prize, the Finnegan Award. Finnegan winners tend to go big - a top grad school, Wall Street, an overseas fellowship. Kennedy is planning to give away his computer, recycle his Blackberry, and move to a modest communal house in St. Paul, Minn. He will get $80 a month for incidentals. He will have no romantic relationships. He will go where his superiors ask, and do what they ask him to do. If all goes well, Kennedy - “Dan-o’’ to his friends - can hope to be ordained a Jesuit priest in 2024.
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Heartwarming story. It's interesting that the top questions asked of a very bright,acadenically successful,popular student are,Will it be Wall St,a top Legal Firm?How would he sieze the chance to "make it big."? This kid is unusually centered,even anchored in an inner strength and peace which he wants to share with others. He is not falling into the trap of "this is the only way" in regard to his Catholic faith or his life style choices. He is a true leader and, thanks,to Lisa Wangness for this most refreshing and inpiring article!!! If only more of our top achievers could find their core.
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It is a long road to ordination..Better to interview this young man after he has been ordained a few years. There are several Harvard grads who have been ordained and are working in Massachusetts...They would be a better choice. If he had the opportunity to date at college he should have. Remember what Bishop D'Arcy said," the bests priests are the ones who would have made good husbands and fathers."
I don't know how to respond to this article. Kid seems nice, albeit too serious. I wish the Jesuits would include a year of drunken debauchery in their multi-year preparation. I fear Dan-o may not fully know what he's giving up. Celibacy ain't easy. At 21, the sacrifice is a bit theoretical for even the most sexually active. And here is Dan-o who never dated in high school or college. Great. And let's not take this too far. Should he remain on this troubling path, he will want for nothing as a Jesuit. It may actually be more difficult and challenging to reciprocate his love for God by eschewing the formal priesthood and living in the world without the support (and cover) of the priesthood. Go on a date. Open your heart to others, live a full life. Next Monday, skip the informal examen and go have sex with someone. You'll find there is something more unitive than enjoying a good meal together.
We are all individuals. And it is idealistic to expect everyone to meet some standard of intimacy. I don't think that we all can to be the same. Some people might never be desiring, for a host of reasons, to become physically intimate with another human being, yet, at the same time, more open and willing to provide emotional, intellectual, and spiritual sustenance to others. I don't believe it is necessary to have experience sex to have a full and productive - and deeply happy - life. For most of us it might be, but this is not always the case.