Fr Frances Hezel came to Micronesia as a Jesuit scholastic in 1963, taught at Xavier High School for three years, and then returned to the US for three years of theological studies. When this was finished, Fr Hezel returned to Micronesia in 1969 to resume teaching at Xavier High School. In 1973 Fr Hezel was appointed principal of the School. He continued as the top administrator there until 1982, when he moved to the mission center to work as full-time director of the Micronesian Seminar which was based in Chuuk for ten years and subsequently on Pohnpei. Between 1992 and 1998 Fr Hezel also served as Jesuit regional superior in Micronesia. While Fr. Frances Hezel was studying theology at Woodstock College, MD, during the late 1960s, he inherited the then small collection of books that young Jesuits who had returned from Micronesia pored over in an effort to prepare themselves for their eventual return to the islands. During the summer of 1968, one year before his ordination, Fr Hezel was admitted into the East-West Center program where he took courses in Pacific history and wrote a bibliographic essay on the history of the Catholic Church's engagement in Micronesia that was not long afterwards published in Journal of Pacific History (Vol.5, 1970). That kicked off Fr Hezel's career in local history and motivated him to find still more about church activities in the islands. The result can be found in his files and most of what fills the shelves of the Micronesian Seminar library.
From the description of Papers on the Catholic Diocese of the Caroline Islands [microform]. 1670-1999. (Libraries Australia). WorldCat record id: 224188877
