At the end of the 2011-2012 school year, Aaron Bohr formally decided to join the Society of Jesus, a monastic order of the Catholic Church. Upon becoming a Jesuit novice, with the intention of ultimately taking his vows as a priest, he traded his place as a much-beloved Upper School Chinese teacher for the new title of Jesuit novice. Since then, Bohr’s visibility at St. Paul Academy and Summit School has naturally declined, but he has nonetheless remained very busy.

In keeping with the Jesuits’ intellectual tradition, Bohr has spent much of his time engaged in education. In the fall of his first year, he taught at Cristo Rey Twin Cities Jesuit High School in Minneapolis, and he currently occupies another teaching post at University of Detroit Jesuit High School.

“For me, education is a form of ministry; the two are very much linked. I feel that being a Jesuit for me has deepened my vocation as a teacher,” Bohr said.

In addition to his continued work as an educator, Bohr has been engaged in other kinds of ministry and service as well. He has worked alongside Visitation nuns in the inner city of Minneapolis, and at a Jesuit retirement home in Detroit.

Bohr has also spent two months engaged in rigorous spiritual exercises; the first a pilgrimage to Louisville, Kentucky on only $35, and the second month in silence practicing the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order. However, he also finds value in less conventional places.

“I encounter God in the classroom teaching, accompanying the choir on the piano, and talking with a friend,” he said.

To read a Q&A with Bohr, click here.