Associate Pastor
212-627-2100 ext.225
Jmiracky@sfxavier.org
Jim was born in Milwaukee, WI, and spent his teen years in Minneapolis, MN and Buffalo, NY. In the latter he attended Canisius High School, which was the inspiration for his Jesuit vocation, which began the summer after he graduated. His academic training includes a B.A. in English and Philosophy from Fordham University, an M.Div. and S.T.M. from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in English (20th Century British Fiction) from Rutgers University.
Until coming to Xavier, Jim spent most of his priestly ministry in Jesuit higher education, first as an English Professor (primarily teaching courses in fiction and drama), and eventually as English Department Chair and Associate Dean for Faculty Development, at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, and then as Dean of Loyola College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Maryland (in Baltimore). Most recently, Jim was the Provincial Assistant for Higher Education in the USA East Province, serving as liaison between the Jesuits and the eleven Jesuit colleges and universities on the East Coast, particularly attending to issues of Jesuit mission and identity. During this time, he presided at weekend masses at St. Francis Xavier Parish once or twice a month.
In addition to presiding at the sacraments and preaching regularly throughout his priestly ministry, Jim has had pastoral experience over his Jesuit career as a campus minister, a hospital chaplain, a spiritual director, and a retreat director. He is happy to be serving in the parish full-time now.
