Rev. Frederick G. McLeod, S.J.

Rev. Frederick G. McLeod, S.J., was called to eternal life on Monday, March 7, 2022, at the Fusz Pavilion of Jesuit Hall in St. Louis, Missouri. He was 90 years old, a Jesuit for 72 years and a priest for almost 60 years.

Fred was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts on February 22, 1932, and baptized at St. Peter’s Church on March 21. He was the oldest and last-surviving of six siblings; he remained very close to them and their families throughout his life. He entered the New England Province of the Society at Shadowbrook in Lenox, Massachusetts on July 30, 1949, and pronounced First Vows there on July 31, 1951. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Classics from Boston College in 1955 and an M.A. in the same disciplines in 1956. He received his PhD in Theology from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome in 1973.

For regency, Fred was sent to Baghdad College in Iraq 1956-59. He returned to the U.S. for Theology and was ordained to the priesthood at Weston College in Weston, Massachusetts on June 16, 1962. He did tertianship at St. Robert’s Hall in Pomfret, Connecticut 1963-64 and pronounced Final Vows on August 15, 1966 at Farm Street in London.

As a young priest, Fred returned to Baghdad, but was soon forced out along with the other foreign-born Jesuits. He then served as the Rector of the Jesuit Collegian Community from its beginnings at Weston through its move to Boston to its disbanding after just a few years (1969-73). In 1973 Fred came to Saint Louis University as a professor of Theological Studies, a mission which he carried out until 2006, more than thirty years. From 2006 until the present, Fred was a writer of theology.

Fred enjoyed teaching, but he relished writing even more. He eagerly anticipated his occasional sabbaticals, both for the time and space they provided him for writing, and for the opportunities they gave him to reconnect with his New England roots, and especially his family. Even as his health, and especially his eyesight, weakened, Fred continued doggedly to write a bit each day—despite the frustration of regularly getting lost in the maze of giant letters on his screen. Ever a Bostonian, he had imagined that he would return to the East Coast once he finished his final book, but that was not to be.

Fred was a true gentleman and a truly gentle man. His quiet wisdom, patience and good humor were gifts he freely gave to his community, family, and friends until the very end.

Fred’s Funeral Mass will be celebrated in the Loyola Room of Jesuit Hall on Tuesday afternoon, March 15, at 4:30 p.m., with visitation from 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. Interment will be at Campion Center in Weston, Massachusetts at a later date. The Mass will be live-streamed. The link can be found on YouTube by searching on “Fr. Fred McLeod Funeral Mass” or by clicking on

https://youtu.be/On2jgWF-ICo

Fred was preceded in death by his parents, Evelyn McGahey and Walter B. McLeod, as well as by his brothers, William, Robert, and Richard, and his sisters Marjorie Costello and Carol Stanley. He is survived by two sisters-in-law, Kathie McLeod and Jane McLeod, as well as 17 nieces and nephews.

All members of the USA Central and Southern Province and those applied to it are encouraged to offer a Mass for him. Members of the Jesuit Hall Community are to offer an additional Mass.