September 14, 2025 Essay: New York or Nowhere!
Perhaps you’ve seen these baseball hats, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and the like throughout the City? In fact, I don a NYON hat (with the Yankees logo on the side, for good measure) for my daily morning walks through our common backyard, Central Park (It was an Ordination gift from my sister who lives in Queens!). There’s something about this sentiment that captures my heart! Ironically, however, this is the first time I have had the opportunity to work in New York as a Jesuit! Already, this Church is a meaningful place for me. As you may know, I was ordained here, along with four of my classmates, on June 14th.
Allow me, first, to offer a few words of introduction as we get to know each other. I grew up in Wappingers Falls, New York, a 90-minute Metro-North ride up the Hudson River. My parents—who I am sure you will see often this year!—are originally from the Bronx. Many weekends, holidays, and summer days growing up were spent in that great borough, not to mention frequent trips to Yankee Stadium! So, for me, the Bronx is like a second home, a place where I was always surrounded by family and food.
My first run-in with the Society of Jesus was at the North American Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville, New York, on a 5th-grade field trip. However, it wasn’t until college at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore that I actually met Jesuits! It was there, and especially in my work in Campus Ministry, that the idea of being a Jesuit priest started to take root. I had already thought about the priesthood, mostly thanks to the wonderful parish priests I knew in Wappingers Falls, but meeting and interacting with the Jesuits set my heart on fire in a new way. So, after much discernment and many conversations with friends and mentors, I decided to enter the Novitiate after graduation.
As I’m sure many of you know, Jesuit formation is a long and winding path! As I often say, we’re slow learners! My 11 years of formation took me all over the country—from starting the journey in the Northeast in our Novitiate in Syracuse, New York to three years of philosophy studies in the Midwest at St. Louis University, followed by three years of teaching sophomore math in the Southeast at Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School, and finally, to three years on the West Coast studying theology at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California and serving as a deacon in a parish in Orinda, California.
So, while I am filled with excitement to be back in New York, my formation has taught me how God is truly present in all places. Which reminds me of the counsel of St. Ignatius Loyola. In a letter concerning the formation of young Jesuits, he writes, “They should practice the seeking of God’s presence in all things, in their conversations, their walks, in all that they see, taste, hear, understand, in all their actions, since His Divine Majesty is truly in all things by His presence, power, and essence.”
Indeed, God is truly and powerfully present in all places—if only we have eyes of faith and hearts of hope to recognize and feel God’s presence, power, and essence! So, perhaps the tagline ought to be New York and Everywhere! Indeed, I am excited for our year together and all the ways we will find God in this place.
Already, I’m deeply grateful for your support and prayers in these first months as a priest! I look forward to getting to know you, so please introduce yourself to me often! And, even more, please keep praying for me!
Godspeed,
Fr. Jonathan Pennacchia, S.J.
Pastoral Year Priest