In Memoriam: Father Jude, Former University Chaplain

Father Jude DeAngelo, OFM Conv., University chaplain and director of campus ministry from 2010 to 2022, passed away on Nov. 18, 2025, following an extended illness.

A member of Our Lady of Angels Province of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, Fr. Jude made his profession as a friar in 1977 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1984.

In a message to the campus community and alumni, University President Peter Kilpatrick wrote: “He was a steady source of compassion, joy, and spiritual guidance for countless students, faculty, and staff. His presence shaped our community in ways that will be felt for years to come.”

Emmjolee Mendoza-Waters, B.A. 2001, MSW 2009, worked with Fr. Jude, first as the associate director of campus ministry and then as the director of community engagement, social justice, and Catholic social teaching. 

“I feel so blessed and so privileged to have gotten to work with him and to be with him,” she said. “Fr. Jude encouraged me in my ministry and my vocation.”

She said he could be gruff on the outside, “but there was this other part of him that was so like his vocation as a friar. That was his deep love for the poor and marginalized. I've always had a love for the poor, but under his leadership it was cultivated.”

Students and colleagues of Fr. Jude said his love for Christ led him to be present and accompany students in need.

Brian Rhude, B.A. 2020, was a student minister who worked with Fr. Jude. He recalled “his endless supply of Diet Coke” and struggles with technology, but what he remembers most is Fr. Jude’s compassion for students.

He pointed to Fr. Jude’s tradition of sharing a charism or strength for each campus minister during an annual thank-you dinner and then asking forgiveness during a Senior Week Mass of anyone he may have hurt—asking them to pray for him.

When COVID began, Fr. Jude ensured Praise and Worship Adoration and the Triduum Masses were livestreamed. When Rhude’s father was hospitalized, he texted Fr. Jude, who immediately was available to provide comfort.

Now the campus minister at Towson University, Rhude said of his mentor, “There is nowhere I’d rather be to honor him than here. His good came from believing and knowing he was a son of St. Francis and of God, and in his imperfection, good came from that. His awareness of his own humanity impacted how he understood and interacted with others.”

“His capacity for caring for students individually was such a gift. Rarely did I raise a concern about a student that he was not already working with,” said Susan Timoney, associate professor of practice and associate dean for graduate ministerial studies in the School of Theology and Religious Studies. 

Mendoza-Waters spoke to Fr. Jude the night before he died. “Of course, he was consoling me and asking me to pray for him so that he comes to Jesus,” she said. “He was always bringing me back to Christ and bringing me to Our Lady. He was walking with me.” 

“He recognized Jesus Christ in every person—a student, a homeless person, or a fellow priest. He refused to miss an opportunity to see and love the Lord through the people he encountered,” Rhude said.

A Memorial Mass for Fr. Jude DeAngelo, OFM Conv., will be held on Monday Nov. 24, 5:10 p.m., in St. Vincent de Paul Chapel on Catholic University’s campus.