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Chamberlain, Henry T. (Father)

January 12, 2017

Jesuit Father Henry T. Chamberlain died on Jan. 12, 2017, at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in Pontiac, Michigan. He was 86 years old, a Jesuit for 68 years, and a priest for 55 years.

Chamberlain, Henry T.

Jesuit Father Henry T. Chamberlain died on Jan. 12, 2017, at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in Pontiac, Michigan. He was 86 years old, a Jesuit for 68 years, and a priest for 55 years.

He was born on April 14, 1930, in Chicago. After graduating from Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, in 1948, he entered the Society of Jesus on Aug. 19, 1948. He was ordained a priest on June 11, 1961, at West Baden College in West Baden, Indiana, and professed his final vows on Feb. 2, 1978, in Detroit. Fr. Chamberlain’s brother, Frank, joined the Society in 1955 and later transcribed to the Peru Province.

Fr. Chamberlain earned a bachelor’s degree in Latin from Loyola University Chicago in 1953 and licentiates in philosophy (1955) and sacred theology (1962) from West Baden College. He also earned a Masters of Business Administration (with a specialty in accounting) from the University of Michigan (1964). This degree included an accounting internship at Deloitte Haskins & Sells in Boston.

During his regency, Fr. Chamberlain taught math and coached swimming at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School (1955–58).  After his studies, he was treasurer and dealt with financial issues in various provinces, apostolates, and communities. He was the assistant Chicago Province treasurer (1965–67) before becoming the treasurer at Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago (1967–75). During the 1975–76 academic year, he was a financial consultant based at Seattle University. He then served as the assistant Missouri Province treasurer (1976–77). When the Detroit Province treasurer died suddenly, Fr. Chamberlain took the role in January 1978.  He served in this position until he was called to Rome in 1992 to be the assistant treasurer general of the Society of Jesus. In 2004, Fr. Chamberlain became treasurer of the Jesuit Curia community.

After a well-deserved sabbatical (2007–08), Fr. Chamberlain shifted his energies from finance to retreats. He directed retreats at the Jesuit Spiritual Center at Milford in Ohio (2008–10) and at Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (2010–16).

Throughout his Jesuit life, Fr. Chamberlain was also a revisor (a reviewer or internal auditor) of the financial administration of Jesuit houses in the Chicago Province (1965–71 and 2008–10), the Missouri Province (1976–77), the Detroit Province (1978–92), the international houses in Rome (2004–07), and the Chicago-Detroit Province (2011–16).