Joseph Fessio SJ (born January 10, 1941) is an American Jesuit priest, as well as the founder and editor of Ignatius Press.

After studying with Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), he founded the St. Ignatius Institute at the University of San Francisco, one of the first Catholic Great Books programs in the United States,[1] then served as the founding provost of Ave Maria University.

Fessio attended high school at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California, from 1954 to 1958.

He directed the Saint Ignatius Institute until 1987 when he was removed from his position as Director by Father President, John LoSchiavo, S.J., in a dispute over management of a $1,000,000 donation.

[1] In 1987 he was a Peritus at the Seventh Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops, held at the Vatican, and delivered a paper arguing that girls and women should be excluded from the offices of altar server and lector at the Catholic Mass.

[5] In 2007, he was fired from his position as provost of Ave Maria University over "irreconcilable differences over administrative policies and practices".