Fr. Peter Etzel, SJ
Associate Pastor petzel@morecommunity.org
Fr. Peter joined the staff at St. Thomas More in the summer of 2022. He is no stranger to Lexington & Summit, however. Fr. Peter was the associate pastor here from 1999-2001. He had a beard and mustache then. Fr. Peter is delighted to return to the parish.
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Fr. Peter graduated in 1975 with a Journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was the assistant sports editor of The Milwaukee Journal before entering the Jesuit novitiate in 1983. An interesting fact: Fr. Peter was the second of three Journal sports staffers who joined the Jesuits in consecutive years!
A Jesuit for 39 years and a priest for 28, Fr. Peter has served in a variety of ministries and cultures. He taught high school in The Philippines (1988-90), worked among Native Americans (Lakota) at a retreat house in western South Dakota (2010-17), and served in an African American parish in Detroit (2017-21). Fr. Peter was Vocations director of the Wisconsin Province Jesuits (1996-99) and pastor of the Church of the Gesu in Milwaukee (2002-09).
Fr. Peter’s many interests include aviation. He earned his private pilot’s license at age 19. The license is no longer current, but he remains passionate about general and commercial aviation. One might see him on a golf course, too. Or at the theater, concert hall or ball park.
