Tad Guzie
by Frank Henderson
Tad Guzie was one of the founders of this Academy. He was then a Roman Catholic presbyter and member of the Society of Jesus. However, he had not been an active member of the Academy of recent years.
With a doctoral dissertation at Cambridge on the sacramental theology of Leo the Great, Tad Guzie was prominent among those re-thinking the nature of sacraments during the stimulating period of the late 1960s and 1970s. He was especially skilled in communicating the new theology to the church at large. He contributed a number of books; his 1974 Jesus and the Eucharist is still in print; the 1981 Book of Sacramental Basics was widely used in teaching. He taught at Marquette and was theological advisor to the bishop of Des Moines, Iowa.
In the late 1970s, Tad Guzie resigned from active ministry and from the Jesuit order and married Noreen Monroe, immediately becoming parent to five children. Tad and his family lived in Calgary, Alberta, where he was a professor of education at the University of Calgary. Unfortunately, there were no opportunities for Tad to contribute to the theological or liturgical life of the church there. For 18 summers, however, he taught courses on sacraments and spirituality at Loyola University Chicago, and treasured these opportunities highly. He and Noreen also co-authored two books on psychology and spirituality. Tad Guzie was a brilliant teacher: thoughtful and clear, affirming and challenging. He influenced a large number of students both in Calgary and in Chicago.
During the celebration of their marriage, Tad and Noreen had washed each other's feet. On Sunday, June 24, 2001, Noreen washed Tad's feet once more, and anointed them with perfumed oil. He died of colon cancer shortly afterward; he was 66.
May he rest in peace.