Jesuit Scholar Remembered for Late-Night Liturgy - Georgetown College

For 40 years, the Rev. Thomas King, S.J., delivered the 11:15 p.m. Mass in Dahlgren Chapel, six nights a week. That Georgetown tradition ended on June 23 when the Jesuit died suddenly of a heart attack in his campus residence that Tuesday evening. He was 80.

King’s funeral will be held at Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart on campus at 9 a.m. on June 27, and the wake will be held at the Jesuit residence, Wolfington Hall, from 3 to 5 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. on June 26. Burial in the Jesuit cemetery next to Harbin Hall will follow the funeral service.

The Rev. John Langan, S.J., remembers his fellow Jesuit, “with great respect and affection, as a very determined, hard-working individual.”

”(King) was very dedicated to both his subject matter and his students,” says Langan, rector of Georgetown’s Jesuit community. “All of us understand that positive influence on his students can be an example we should continue to follow.”

Widely known on the Hilltop for his late-night liturgies, King also was a scholar who taught theology at Georgetown for more than 40 years. The Jesuit had nine books to his credit and widely published articles on theological and spiritual topics.