Admitting young women at Jesuit High School is a win, Sacramento priest says | Opinion
Sacramento’s Jesuit High School has been at the center of my prayer for the last few months. A 2001 graduate of Jesuit Sacramento, I could not be more grateful for — or prouder of — my alma mater for taking a thoughtful and hopeful step into the future by welcoming young women through its 2027 co-divisional model.
The model chosen by the Board of Trustees preserves much of what has long defined Jesuit education, particularly the care and intention given to the formation of young people. It also responds with courage to the realities of the world our students inhabit.
To be clear: I do not work for Jesuit Sacramento. But I do love it, and I will always champion it — not because it reflects my personal vision for the school, but because I trust the institution itself. I trust its leaders, its mission and its long history of discerning what is best for its students.
The school has shaped generations of remarkable people, and I believe this decision continues that legacy.
My own years in high school set me on a path toward a life of service. This path eventually led me to the priesthood in the Society of Jesus. At 17, I could not have named it clearly, but something had been awakened in me — a desire to be close to Jesus and to give my life to others. That spark led me deeper into Jesuit education, and, ultimately, into the priesthood.
The all-boys setting was not the root of that spark. Rather, it was the teachings of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, and the many Jesuit priests and lay collaborators who followed him, that served as a touchstone for a desire to preach and live the Gospel of Christ.
Since graduating, I have been influenced by several Jesuit institutions, both as a student and as an educator. Across single-sex, co-divisional and fully coeducational settings, I have encountered a wide range of schools within the global Jesuit network. These experiences have led me to say with confidence that single-gender schooling is not central to the Jesuit mission.
At its foundation, Jesuit education is about the formation of hearts and minds — shaping people who are intellectually capable, morally grounded and oriented toward loving and serving the world. The move to a co-divisional model at Jesuit Sacramento deepens this work.
Young men formed as “men for others” will learn from the gifts, experiences and perspectives of their female peers, just as the young women — developed as “women for others” — will now have the same opportunity.
Together, students will be more fully equipped to lead with empathy, conscience and responsibility. They will encounter a richer expression of our shared humanity, grounded in the truth of our Catholic tradition and rooted in Ignatian spirituality, with its emphasis on reflection, discernment, service and finding God in all things.
In reality, young women have been part of Jesuit Sacramento’s life for decades. My experiences in theater and summer programs, alongside extraordinary young women, like screenwriter/director Greta Gerwig, were formative and life-giving parts of my high school years.
Welcoming young women more fully into campus is a natural and hopeful continuation of that tradition — and a deeply proud moment for many of us who have called 1200 Jacob Lane home.
My two brothers and I are all graduates of Jesuit Sacramento. This year, my brother will welcome his first child, a baby girl. It brings so much pride and joy knowing that she may one day experience the same school as we did, and that she, too, may be shaped by the same tradition that formed us.
We join many families in Sacramento who are heartened by this moment and excited for young women to have the opportunity to attend high school at Jesuit.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, teaches us that gratitude is the heart of prayer and that walking with Jesus begins with “thank you.”
Saint Ignatius was right. Our walk with Jesus is a daily lesson in gratitude. It is also a daily lesson in trust, with which gratitude walks hand in hand.
My hope is that those who struggle with this decision may join in a prayer for the institution we love, thanking God for all it gave us and trusting that the same Spirit who has guided Jesuit High School Sacramento for generations continues to guide it now — so that it may inspire others to leave its campus and love the world.
Fr. Billy Biegler is the provincial assistant for Jesuit life for the Jesuits West Province.
This story was originally published February 5, 2026 at 5:00 AM.