Fairfield Prep is pleased to welcome the return of Brendan Coffey, S.J., as the guest speaker of Prep’s 81st Commencement Exercises on Friday, May 26, 2023, at 10 a.m. in the Leo D. Mahoney Arena, Fairfield University. 

Brendan is currently in a two-year ecclesiastical degree program studying for the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California. Brendan was officially approved for holy orders by the Jesuits East Province and will be ordained as a Deacon on October 21, 2023, in Oakland, California. He will later be ordained as a priest on June 14, 2024, at Fordham University in the Bronx. 

Previously, Brendan earned a BA in Philosophy and English at Fordham University, a Master’s in Philosophy with a focus on Anglo-Irish Literature from Trinity College in Dublin, and a MA in Catholic Theology from Fordham University. 

Brendan entered the Society of Jesus in 2015, professing his vows in 2017. Brendan has had a lifelong passion for teaching, having been an English teacher for seven years prior to entering the Society. Since then, Brendan has had a wealth of experience working in hospitals, prisons, inner-city schools, and parish youth ministry.

“To our boys, the truth of [gratitude] can be summed up in a single word: brotherhood.” 
— Brendan Coffey, S.J.Brendan regards his time at Fairfield Prep fondly, having served a two-year regency at Prep from 2019 to 2021 where he coached Cross Country in addition to teaching Theology and English. Brendan wrote about his fulfilling experience teaching at Prep for the Spring 2021 edition of Prep Today, which was reprinted in America Magazine, stating that, “To our boys, the truth of [gratitude] can be summed up in a single word: brotherhood.” The rest of Brendan’s article can be read here.