On Saturday, June 14, Matt Ippel, S.J., celebrated his ordination with the Midwest Jesuit Province. A treasured member of the JRS team, Fr. Matt has spent time accompanying JRS in Maban, South Sudan; Qaraqosh, Iraq; Paris, France; and most recently in Washington, D.C.

Fr. Matt recently spoke about his nearly 12-year journey of formation, sharing how he first heard the call to religious life, what he’s learned through accompanying displaced communities, and the hopes he carries as he steps into his new role as a priest.

*Responses have been modified for length and clarity

When and how did you recognize that God was calling you to the Jesuits and priesthood?

One evening during my sophomore year of undergraduate studies at Georgetown, I was having a conversation with a close Jesuit friend. He was the director of campus ministry at the time, and I had gotten to know him through several retreats. I was expressing to him my difficulties deciding which major I wanted to pursue. I was in the School of Foreign Service and thought I would follow a path towards diplomacy, but as certain courses dove into issues of development and inequality, I found my heart beating in a way that it hadn’t with previous classes.

Throughout high school and college, I spent time in community with people in Honduras and El Salvador. I was struck by the simplicity and depth of their faith and their thirst and struggle for life. In El Salvador, the six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter who were killed for their faith and denouncing injustices left a real mark on me. These courses brought me back to those experiences. That was when my friend asked: “Well, Matt, have you ever thought about being a Jesuit?”

I felt like time froze as I thought back to a conversation I had with my parents during Parents Weekend. I shared with them my predicament about my major and my dad asked me the same question. Even further back, in high school, before I even converted to Catholicism—I was raised Lutheran and became a Catholic during my first year at Georgetown—a campus minister at University of Detroit Jesuit High School Academy asked me during my senior year Kairos retreat if I had considered the Jesuits.

So, by that third time someone who knew me so well was asking me a pretty serious and personal question, I knew I needed to be asking the same of myself. That opened a path of discernment which eventually led me to apply to the Jesuits as a senior in college and then enter the Society of Jesus after graduation.

What moments of the last 12 years of formation have left the greatest impact on you?

In January 2014, as a novice, I completed the Spiritual Exercises in a 30-day retreat. I consider that a wellspring moment that I return to each year when I make my annual retreat. That time gave me a deep sense of God’s love for me, for all my brokenness and limitations. I recognized that in all of that, God invites me to work with Him in welcoming and receiving God’s Kingdom here. Such time in meditation and contemplation oriented me towards Jesus’ way of proceeding, with courage and loving without borders.

A more singular moment is when I was missioned to Maban, South Sudan, with JRS. At first, it was a real invitation for obedience—one of the vows religious take. I was studying philosophy in Peru at the time, preparing for regency (a stage of formation where Jesuits are sent to work full-time for a few years), and I really wanted to remain in Latin America since, as I mentioned, it holds such a special place in my heart. The possibility of the Eastern Africa Province had not come up in conversation before, so it felt a little out of left field. After a period of desolation, I prayed with the possibility and considered what the invitation might be. I came to a sense of peace and ultimately my provincial sent me to the JRS project in Maban. And as it turns out, those three years I had in Maban are some of the best years I have had as a Jesuit so far.

My time with JRS opened me further to the international dimension of the Jesuits. But also, to be[ing] missioned to an often forsaken and forgotten place, where sadly decades of conflict, violence, and really dehumanizing poverty and exclusion exist, it was a privilege because I was able to be where hope and suffering meet.

While the communities there are really struggling to survive and the situation is often dire, the place is also just teeming with life. And I loved it. I just loved it. The work we got to do, the endurance of the people and communities, what we learned along the way. It was a tremendous grace to be there.

What did a typical week in Maban look like?

I was there from late 2018 through 2021. So, before the COVID-19 pandemic, I’d wake up, a couple of my colleagues and I would go for a run around the football field near our compound and we’d have breakfast. Then I’d bike ride into the Doro refugee camp, where the JRS center hosted several mental health and psychosocial support activities as well as education programs. One of these was the Acrobat Program, run by Isaac, who became a good friend of mine. Although I did a little karate back in the day, let’s just say my skills were not up to par for the students so I did not help instruct, but I did help build an interpersonal skills workshop as a part of that recreational program. Every other Friday, boys and girls from different tribes gathered to participate in team-building exercises that were both fun and conveyed a message. I also conducted formation opportunities for our staff who were carrying out activities.

After COVID hit, JRS evacuated staff from South Sudan as a precaution. We were two Jesuits there at the time and we both asked our provincials and the international director of JRS if we could stay to continue being a presence for our community in Maban. During that time, I became the officer in charge, coordinating all activities with humanitarian partners like UNHCR, all our education, pastoral, and psychosocial programming, as well as finance and HR logistics. It was a good learning experience for me to be able to accompany our team and support them in their work.

You will be returning to JRS Maban this summer, what are you most looking forward to?

I am really excited to see the people in Maban from all the various communities. There are so many people who formed me over these years both as a Jesuit and before, but I really feel that it was during regency that the people in Maban taught me what it means to be a priest. It was important for me to be able to go back and offer a Mass of thanksgiving for them and allow them to receive me as a newly ordained priest.

These people were not asking for someone to swoop in with all the answers or be positioned above everyone else. They were asking for someone to be with them through the ups and downs of life.

The Gospel is not just a series of stories and good deeds tucked away in a book. The Gospel grows feet—which is a quote I take from Tom Kelly, a professor at Creighton University who wrote a book on Rutilio Grande, a very influential Jesuit in my life. I have learned from the communities in Maban how to incarnate the Gospel and live it out through my life.

Is there a specific moment where you felt especially affirmed in your decision to enter the priesthood?

Two come to mind. The first was while making my 30-day Spiritual Exercises in the novitiate when my spiritual director suggested reading an excerpt from The Voice of Blood: Five Christian Martyrs of Our Time. In it, I read about João Bosco Bernier, who was martyred in Brazil. After he was killed, his community sang, “He who knows how to be a brother can stay.” That spoke to me as a way to be like Jesus, a companion of others; to be a brother.

The other is toward the end of my years in South Sudan. As a send-off, the youth in the community organized a football (soccer) match and then a meal in a community member’s home. There, several shared their messages of gratitude for my time in Maban. One of the leaders stood up and said: “Matthew, we want to thank you for being here with us, for coming into our homes, sharing meals, playing with our children, and for really being here with us and loving us.”

What’s surprising you most about how you are feeling about your ordination?

I hear ordination sometimes framed as a culmination of this long, beautiful journey, but in many ways, I feel like it has just started. God willing, there is a lot ahead, and I find that really exciting. These last 12 years have been this incredible adventure filled with its own surprises and challenges. And it seems like that journey is just continuing and going in its own direction now.

I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude, which I guess is not a surprise. I feel gratitude for God who called me to this life and particular path, but also for how God has spoken through different people, assignments, and experiences. I am grateful for all those individuals and communities who’ve offered me this gift of faith, helping me deepen my faith and listen more attentively to how God calls me to respond.

What kind of priest do you hope to be?

I want to be the priest that the people in Maban taught me to be. One who, before all else, listens, accompanies, is there in the big moments of people’s lives, through the sacraments for example, but also in the ordinary moments like sharing a meal, accepting that invitation to their home and break bread around their table—their altar if you will. To be able to share in people’s hopes, dreams, struggles, challenges, and sufferings, I want to be able to hold all of that with people and minister as a form of consolation.

In lieu of gifts, Fr. Matt is asking his community to make a donation to the JRS South Sudan community in celebration of his ordination. If you are interested in contributing, please visit this link.