St. Bonaventure University alumnus and Franciscan friar Fr. Greg Jakubowicz, O.F.M., has been named University Chaplain at the university.

A 1987 graduate, Fr. Greg is Franciscan Friar in the Order of Friars Minor and is a member of the Holy Name Province.

Fr. Russel Murray, O.F.M., vice president for Mission Integration at St. Bonaventure, is thrilled to welcome Fr. Greg home to his alma mater. 

“From the depth of his generous heart to the hem of his brown habit, Fr. Greg embodies fully what it means to be a Franciscan. His gregarious spirit, extensive ministerial experience, and abiding love for our St. Bonaventure Family make him, as one member of the search committee put it, ‘the right person at the right time,’” said Fr. Russel.

Fr. Greg, who will direct the activities of University Ministries in its service of the St. Bonaventure community, especially its student population, will begin his duties Aug. 1. 

Having spent the majority of his time in ministry serving in higher education. Fr. Greg has taught at St. Bonaventure and Hilbert College; was an administrator at the former Washington Theological Union; served as vocation director of his province; and has ministered in campus ministry at Siena College, Hilbert College, and at the University at Buffalo South Campus and Medical School.

Since 2016, Fr. Greg has been based at St. Joseph University Parish in Buffalo, New York, where he served as a weekend assistant helping out at Masses and providing for the pastoral care and spiritual life for South Campus students at UB.

Fr. Greg also is on staff with the Franciscan Pilgrimage Program, where he helps pilgrims learn more about St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi as they travel to Italy.

He said he is humbled and grateful to God to be returning to St. Bonaventure.

“My heart has been at Bona’s since I was a student there. The Franciscan spirit of Bona’s changes you and strengthens you to try to live what you believe by making a positive difference in our world. I look forward to once again being part of the collaborative effort of the Bona community that helps to nurture compassion, seek wisdom, build integrity and foster good character rooted in our faith in an all good and loving God,” Fr. Greg said.

He is happy to find himself “back home” to serve the Bonaventure Family.

“To return to Bona’s now in the reality presented to us in this pandemic we all face together, I believe our shared mission remains to do what we can to be who we say we are as Bonnies, and for all of us to seek to be an instrument of God’s love in our world in the place we find ourselves,” he said.

Fr. Greg earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from St. Bonaventure, a master of divinity from Washington Theological Union, and a juris doctor from SUNY at Buffalo School of Law.