Rev. William J. Watters, S.J.
Born in Montclair, N.J., on March 1, 1934, the Rev. William J. Watters, S.J., entered the Maryland Jesuits in 1952.
After seminary training and college studies toward the first of his three master’s degrees, he taught at St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia from 1959 to 1962. He returned there from 1967 to 1969 after completing further studies and ordination at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in 1965.
From 1969 to 1975, he taught at Loyola Blakefield in Towson while founding and directing retreats at Bellarmine Retreat Center in Blue Ridge, PA.
He worked in Mexico during the summers of 1974 and 1975. Reassigned to work with the Jesuit Maryland provincial, he was his assistant for nine years in support of 200 Jesuits engaged in social projects and pastoral ministries.
In 1985, he became pastor of Old Saint Joseph’s Church in Philadelphia until 1989, when he left to work at Saint Joseph’s Church in Benin City, Nigeria.
Returning to the United States in 1991, he became pastor of St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore, where he still works as assisting priest. From 2006 to 2008 he was Province Socius.
During his past 33 years in Baltimore, he has founded three Jesuit schools to educate disadvantaged youth: St. Ignatius Loyola Academy (1993), Cristo Rey Jesuit High School (2007) and The Loyola School (2017).
Presently, there are 589 students attending the combined three schools with a target total enrollment of 675 by 2026, forming a Jesuit educational ecosystem in Baltimore City.
