Reverend Raymond T. Gawronski

1950 - 2016

Reverend Raymond T. Gawronski, SJ

Sept. 9, 1950 - Apr. 14, 2016

Gawronski, S.J., Rev. Raymond T. At Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, CA on April 14, 2016, at age 65, of complications from cancer. He was a Jesuit for 38 years. Born on September 9, 1950, in Brooklyn, he grew up in New York and New Jersey, attending St. Joseph's High School in West New York. He graduated from Holy Cross College in 1971 as class valedictorian. After some years of various experiences including, accounting on Wall Street, farming in Virginia and driving taxi in Honolulu, he pursued a MA in world religions at Syracuse University under Professor Huston Smith who, with his wife Kendra, were to become lifelong friends. In 1977 he entered the Maryland province of Jesuits. After two years of novitiate at Wernersville, PA, he worked for two years with street people and the poor in Washington, D.C. Then followed: a MA in Philosophy at St. Michael's Institute in Spokane, a M.Div. at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, ordination to the priesthood in 1986, a STL at the Oriental Institute in Rome and a STD at the Gregorian Institute in Rome. His principal assignments have been: professor of theology at Marquette University, professor and spiritual director at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver and professor and spiritual director at St. Patrick's Seminary, Menlo Park, CA. In his study of theology Fr. Ray began a lifelong commitment to the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar. His book, "Word and Silence: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Spiritual Encounter between East and West" is in its third edition. His TV series on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, "A Closer Walk with Christ" is very popular for retreat use.
Fr. Ray was a uniquely gifted Jesuit, with deep faith in God and a great love for the Church. He was blessed with special gifts of intellect, contemplative depth, capacities for writing, teaching, spiritual direction and giving retreats. Gifted in languages, a world traveler and a student of various cultures, he was particularly articulate in the critique of cultures and their impact on religion. He was very proud of his immigrant family, his Polish heritage and the papacy of St. John Paul II. He was very appreciative of the monastic world, East and West, and he was an associate with the monastic community of Mt. Tabor in Redwood Valley, CA. His deep spirituality and his breath of knowledge made him particularly well-suited for his work with those discerning vocations, seminarians, priests and religious. They saw in him an authentic guide who had no other agenda than to help others align their lives with God's will for them. His visit this past December to the mountain retreat of Fr. Balthasar in Switzerland with several of his spiritual directees was a particular gift for Fr. Ray. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him, but especially by his spiritual companions.
He was preceded in death by his father and mother and his dear sister Carol. He is survived by his brother-in-law Paul Sander, his niece Katie Sander, his nephew Peter Sander and his cousin Donald Ferri. Viewing: 5:30PM, followed by Vigil: 7:30PM, Monday, April 25th; Mass of Christian Burial: 10:00AM, Tuesday, April 26, all at the Shrine of St. Anne Parish, 7555 Grant Place, Arvada, CO 80002. Committal will follow the Mass of Christian Burial at the Jesuit Plot at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery, 12801 W. 44th Ave., Wheat Ridge, CO 80033.