- Date Of Birth: October 14, 1932
- Date Of Death: May 12, 2014
- State: Indiana
Brother James Patrick Sullivan, C.S.C., age 81, died on May 12, 2014 at Memorial Hospital, in South Bend, Indiana. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 14, 1932, the son of Martin and Jane (Swaine) Sullivan. He attended St. Theodore Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois. At the age of 13 he persuaded his parents to let him be a Holy Cross Brother so in September 1946 he traveled to Sacred Heart Juniorate in Watertown, Wisconsin to begin high school studies and become a brother. In August 1949 he completed high school work and began his religious training at St. Joseph’s Novitiate in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, where he pronounced his first vows as a Brother of Holy Cross on August 16, 1950. Brother James then went to Notre Dame to begin college studies and earned a bachelor’s degree cum laude when he graduated in 1955.
He began his teaching career in 1952 when he joined the faculty at St. Anthony’s High School in Long Beach, California. He then taught at St. Joseph’s High School in South Bend, Indiana, Reitz Memorial High in Evansville and Archbishop Hoban High in Akron, Ohio. In 1962, Brother James was appointed principal of Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, where he served for 4 years. In 1966, he served as principal at Holy Cross High School in River Grove, Illinois. He then taught at Bishop David High in Louisville, Kentucky and Spalding College in Louisville for 6 years and then began graduate study in psychology at Indiana University. He was Executive Secretary of the Community College in Springfield, Illinois for two years and then psychologist for the Gary Community School Association and Director of Counseling at Mendel High School in Chicago. His work as a psychologist continued in Chicago Heights and Oak Forest, Illinois. He served as the school psychologist for the Chicago Board of Education for 10 years and after a sabbatical he retired in Evergreen Park, Illinois but continued to work as an adjunct faculty member at Morton College in Cicero, IL and also tutored students at Aquinas Literacy Center in Chicago. In 2013 he joined the community at Columba Hall at Notre Dame.
Brother James was grateful for the bond of friendship among the members of his religious community and those he served in his ministry. He was a scholar in many fields and a fascinating conversationalist. He was engaging and witty, a person who seemed to never meet a stranger, he left a marked impression on those he met, especially in his correspondence with former students and colleagues in his ministries. He was interested in the intersection of theology and psychology and believed that the road to holiness passes through the world of action.
