The Ignatian Center welcomes a new director whose influence reaches Los Angeles to London.
Meet Dorian Llywelyn, S.J, who began work as executive director of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education in August. A few things about Fr. Llywelyn: He’s the first Welsh Jesuit in more than 300 years. (His most recent predecessor was a 17th-century martyr.) His first language, Welsh, is listed as “vulnerable.” Along with English, he’s added a few more, including Spanish (he earned a degree in theology in Spain); French and Italian; colloquial Arabic, Indonesian, and Javanese (thanks to service in Egypt and Indonesia with the British equivalent of the Peace Corps); as well as Latin, Hebrew, and Greek.
He is an immigrant and took his oath as a U.S. citizen in California. He has taught at Loyola Marymount University, and in its fine magazine he wrote, “Like cultural identity, religious freedom is fragile and precious … I value the separation of Church and State that should preclude wars of religion. But I also wonder if our comparative tolerance witnesses to a faith that is more privatized and indifferent to its wider implications.” Fr. Llywelyn takes the reins from Michael McCarthy, S.J. ’87, M.Div. ’97, who began work in January at Fordham University as vice president for mission and planning.