Rev. James B. King, C.S.C., religious superior of Holy Cross priests and brothers at Notre Dame, is a trustee and fellow of the University. As superior, Fr. King has ministerial responsibility for the nearly 80 Holy Cross religious at Notre Dame. Before his appointment to that position in 2010, he had served for seven years as rector of the Sorin College residence hall.
A native of Chicago, Fr. King was graduated from Notre Dame in 1981, entered Moreau Seminary, and earned a master of divinity degree from the University in 1987.
Ordained a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross the following year, he spent two years as an assistant rector and freshman seminar instructor at Notre Dame before leaving for the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a master’s degree in political science in 1992.
He served for five years at the University of Portland as a history instructor, rector, assistant director in the alumni office and for one year as director of Portland’s foreign study program in Salzburg, Austria. He returned to Notre Dame in 1997 and served as director of vocations for the Indiana Province of Holy Cross from 1997 to 2005.
Father King has also served as the associate director of the Holy Cross Mission Center, which supports the Congregation’s work overseas, and as the director of campus ministry at the University of Notre Dame. He also is the author of Known by Name: Inside the Halls of Notre Dame, an autobiographical account of his ministry to Notre Dame students.
