Three months ago, I sat down with Fr. Vincent Giacabazi, SJ, the outgoing principal of Rockhurst High School to discuss his time on State Line Road—from his early years of the novitiate to his upcoming role as the president of Jesuit High School in Tampa Bay, Fla. As fate would have it, Giacabazi’s novitiate years are set to be tied to the office of Rockhurst’s principal once again, as Fr. Stephen Kramer, SJ, a mentee of Giacabazi in the early 2000’s will fill that role.
Fr. Kramer has yet to arrive on campus—he is currently undertaking a tertianship, the third and final formational period in the Jesuit order prior to taking his final vows, in Nairobi, Kenya—but was kind enough to sit down for 40 minutes on a Zoom conference to discuss his journey to Rockhurst and what he hopes to bring to the principalship.
Kramer, whose father immigrated to the United States from Germany, is the youngest of six children, along with his twin sister. He graduated from St. Louis University High School as a member of the class of 1996, where he was a decorated wrestler set to attend the University of Missouri on a wrestling scholarship before injury derailed the opportunity. A lifelong fan of the sport, Kramer began coaching wrestling before entering the Jesuit novitiate in his late 20s.
Kramer had long felt a calling to religious life, as early as when he was five years old living in St. Louis. Kramer detailed a pair of stories about his early interest in the priesthood.
The first story entailed Kramer watching Saturday morning cartoons. He described a commercial featuring “All in the Family” star Sally Struthers in which she would say “For a nickel a day, you can feed this starving child.” The commercial stuck with Kramer as an early call to serve others.
“I’m sitting in, you know, a carpeted living room, and my mom’s in the kitchen, making us more food than we could eat for breakfast,” Kramer said. “I believe that was the first moment that I began to realize I had some sort of service-related vocation.”
The second story, which Kramer described as “a little dramatic,” detailed his first memory of the Catholic mass, in which the celebrant, after blessing the Eucharist, sat down in his chair, and suffered a heart attack, dying on the spot. What Kramer remembers most is going through the communion line as the late priest was wheeled out on a stretcher.
“Everybody in the room, you could see their faces, and not one person in that church thought that was the wrong thing to be doing,” Kramer said. “I remember just marveling…being intrigued, fascinated with the liturgy and mass and this whole thing that we call belief and Catholicism at a very young age.”
Kramer followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Mark — who taught at Rockhurst during his own formation — and joined the Jesuits. Rockhurst will be his fourth Jesuit high school (not counting his time as a student at SLUH), preceded by stints as a teacher at De Smet High School in St. Louis and Regis High School in Denver, in addition to his last seven years at Jesuit-New Orleans, where he was prefect of students. His role was comparable to dean of students at Rockhurst.
In talking to Fr. Giacabazi earlier this year, he emphasized that his relocation to Tampa Bay was a “missioning” that would allow him to best serve his vocation. Kramer shared the same sentiment. In anticipation of his tertianship, Kramer had stepped back from his role as disciplinarian, opening the door to a potential move. Fr. Thomas Greene, SJ, the Jesuit provincial superior of the Central and Southern Province, came to Kramer about the potential of the Rockhurst job in light of Giacabazi’s impending departure, as well as the relocation of Jesuit regents Dr. Philip Nahlik, SJ and Ignatius Nguyen, SJ away from Rockhurst at the conclusion of the school year.
“[Greene] mentioned to me that this opening was coming open, and that maybe I wanted to apply for it,” Kramer said, “and so I threw my hat in the ring.”
David Laughlin, the president of Rockhurst, ultimately made the call after multiple discussions with Kramer on a wide range of topics.
“[Laughlin] and I spoke on the phone several times and over Zoom to discuss everything from, you know, my image of what discipline is in a high school… What is my vision for Jesuit education? … So all of these kinds of questions,” Kramer said.
Kramer also met with focus groups of teachers and parents, as well as the board of trustees.
In some ways, Kramer described himself as something of a reluctant leader who found the motivation to lead from a simple axiom familiar to all Jesuit students.
“You know the phrase ‘For the greater glory of God?'” Kramer, asked. “What it really means is, when you’re going to make a choice between doing X or Y, choose the thing that will do greater glory for God.
“I had to ask the questions like, ‘dean of discipline, or in the classroom?’ and I realized I was doing far more work for God as a dean of discipline. Even though I prefer, personally, in the classroom, I found a ton of meaning in that job.”
That desire to do the greatest glory for God has now driven Kramer to Rockhurst.
“As a principal, I could make a very big difference, so now, not only am I affecting the lives of the students, but I am affecting the lives of the faculty, and helping shape where the school is going with [Laughlin],” Kramer said.
Kramer won’t officially assume the title of principal until the academic calendar flips on July 1. In the meantime, he’s assimilating himself to the school by sitting in on meetings and talking regularly with Giacabazi.
“I’m just listening and getting a feel of what’s going on in the school, learning the personalities, because they’re talking about everything in there,” Kramer said.
In some of his meetings, Kramer says he’s already trying to find ways to contribute.
“I’m finding out how…[Director of Ignatian Service Alan] Ratermann, how does he run the service? I throw out some ideas like, “Oh, this is what we’re doing in New Orleans, have you tried this?'”
In talking about his leadership style, Kramer spoke about his experiences at other Jesuit schools.
“I’m 5-foot-8. I’m not scary looking either, right? So, kids are not going to obey me because they’re scared of me…so I came up with, “I have to have more positive interactions with each individual student than negative,'” Kramer said. “If I have to yell at a kid, I’m gonna go out of my way to find that kid and have two pleasant conversations.”
When I first asked Kramer if he had a message for the Rockhurst community, his initial response was, “The disciplinarian in me wants to say ‘watch out,’ but that’s not the job I’m taking. I wish that were the job I was taking just so that could be the answer to that question.”
Kramer has, obviously, shed the title of disciplinarian (and the literal stick he carried at Jesuit New Orleans). Now, just weeks away from his installation as principal of Rockhurst, he gave me these words:
“The day I retire, the day that I have to leave Rockhurst High School,” Kramer said, “I want people to say, ‘How on God’s earth are we going to find somebody else for this job that actually loves us as much as that guy did?'”
