SJVCS NEWS

Graduation Mass brings Golden Jubilee Year to a Close

Wed, 5 May 2010 10:53:28 -0400

Today the seminary celebrated its graduation and the official close to the Golden Jubilee Year: A Year of Hope and Healing. Archbishop Favalora celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and presided over the Commencement Exercises. The Rector, Msgr. Michael G. Carruthers preached, reflecting on the 115th Psalm: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory - non nobis Domine non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloria.” The Cure d’Ars Award, the seminary’s highest honor, was bestowed upon Gustavo Nunez, chief of maintenance. The graduating class received the congratulations of their guests at a reception in the refectory following the ceremonies.

During this Golden Jubilee year, we have truly experienced “A Year of Hope and Healing.” We began the year with the highest enrollment in over thirty-five years. Seventeen countries of birth and six first languages were represented in a house that had an average age of twenty-four years old. We celebrated our Fiftieth Anniversary with a deep sense of gratitude for the graces received over the past decades. We saw an unprecedented outreach to alumni, who came home to share stories about their time here - the challenges they faced, the lessons they learned, the love they experienced.

During this Golden Jubilee year, we saw an alumnus called to the episcopacy - Fr. Fernando Isern is now serving as the Bishop of Pueblo, Colorado. We also saw an alumnus called to be the Archbishop of Miami - Bishop Wenski of Orlando will become the Archbishop of Miami on June 1st.

During this Golden Jubilee year, the seminary was consecrated to Mary, and we very readily experienced her presence guiding us throughout the year. We dedicated the first major art piece to be placed in the seminary since 1968, a mosaic honoring Mary as the New Eve and Star of the Sea. She led us through rough waters to the safe harbor of the heart of her Son. Kneeling before him in the Eucharist, giving praise and worship, we encountered healing and peace and were given strength to continue the journey forward. Praised be Jesus Christ.

“Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory - non nobis Domine non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloria.” - Psalm 115.

Alumnus to be the Fourth Archbishop of Miami

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:51:29 -0400

Today it was announced that an alumnus of St. John Vianney Seminary is to be the fourth Archbishop of Miami. The Most Rev. Thomas Wenski, a member of the Class of 1970, will be installed at the Cathedral of St. Mary on June 1st. Ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami in the same cathedral in 1976, Archbishop Wenski is most known locally for his work with the Haitian Community and as the head of Catholic Charities. In 1997 he was named the Auxiliary Bishop of Miami. Shortly there-after he went to Orlando as the Coadjutor Bishop, eventually succeeding Bishop Norbert Dorsey and becoming the fourth Bishop of Orlando.

At a press conference held at the Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Miami this morning, the Archbishop-Designate had this to say: “This morning, upon the acceptance of Archbishop Favalora’s request to retire, Pope Benedict XVI appointed me as the fourth Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Miami. Jesus once bid Peter ‘Duc in altum’ (Put out into the deep). Now Peter’s successor has asked me to do the same in entrusting to me this new responsibility. I am being called back to this local Church where I was ordained a priest and where I served as a parish priest and auxiliary bishop. Humbled by the Holy Father’s confidence in me and aware of my own limitations and shortcomings, I once again ask the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, that I may worthily fulfill my new duties as the fourth Archbishop of Miami upon my installation on June 1, 2010.”

Seminary Prays for Pope Benedict XVI

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:49:46 -0400

Today the seminary marked the fifth anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict XVI to the Chair of Peter. For the last nine days, the seminary community has participated in a novena of prayers for the Holy Father. We united ourselves in prayer with Peter. Benedict is quoted often here in talks, lectures and homilies. His voice resounds in the conversation of this house, and so our connection to him in prayer is very personal. May the Lord continue to guide and protect him. Ad multos annos.

Golden Jubilee Continues with the John Paul II Vocation Monstrance

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 10:47:52 -0500

Our Golden Jubilee celebrations continued this past week as we hosted the John Paul II Vocation Monstrance. In 2004, Pope John Paul II blessed six monstrances that were sent to six continents for use during the Year of the Eucharist. They were designated for Eucharistic adoration for vocations as a symbol of the connection between the Eucharist and priestly vocations. After the initial tour ended in October of 2005, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops were entrusted with the care and stewardship of the monstrance designated for North America.

This past week, several periods of Eucharistic Adoration were offered to the public. Many came to the seminary to pray for priests, for seminarians, and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. After several days of events open to the public, the seminarians held a private, in-house Forty Hours Devotion. It is very edifying that this new generation of young people seeking their place in the Church are finding it before the Lord in the Eucharist. One only has to look to the most recent World Youth Day in Sydney to see the way in which young people today embrace Eucharistic Adoration: in the adoration tents at various sites and during the Prayer Vigil presided over by the Holy Father. As devotion to the Eucharist strengthens, the priesthood will be strengthened. The “Year of Hope and Healing” continues. Praised be Jesus Christ.

“To adore God is to acknowledge, in respect and absolute submission, the ‘nothingness of the creature’ who would not exist but for God. To adore God is to praise and exalt him and to humble oneself, as Mary did in the Magnificat, confessing with gratitude that he has done great things and holy is his mane. The worship of the one God sets man free from turning in on himself, from the slavery of sin and the idolatry of the world.” (CCC #2097)

Golden Jubilee “Fides et Ratio”

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 10:46:33 -0500

Today the College Seminary held the eleventh annual Fides et Ratio Conference, held this year as one of the Fiftieth Anniversary events. In honor of the Golden Jubilee, an alumnus was chosen to be the speaker for the first time: Ambassador Miguel Diaz, who is the first theologian to be named U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. His talk at St. John Vianney College Seminary was his first public talk on U.S. soil in his new role.   Ambassador Miguel H. Díaz, 45, has deep roots in south Florida, but St. John Vianney is where he remembers falling in love with philosophy. The Havana-born, Miami-raised son of Cuban exiles spent a year at St. John Vianney in its Pre-theology Program. He was discerning the priesthood and studying for the Archdiocese of Miami. His time at St. John Vianney deepened his faith experience and helped him see that his call was not to the priesthood. He is a very happy and fulfilled husband and father.

It was fascinating to learn the ways in which the Church, through its diplomatic relations with nations, engages in conversation with society. Often the Church must proclaim the Gospel in a conversation that takes place with people whose philosophical world view is quite different than our own. Indeed, the Program of Priestly Formation, in speaking about the philosophical preparation of Intellectual Formation says that “by living more reflectively in the historical Catholic intellectual tradition, seminarians are better equipped for their ministry of teaching the faith and better prepared to engage contemporary culture, better prepared for the ‘evangelization of culture,’ which is integral to the new evangelization” (PPF 155).