Catholicism 101: The Seminary

St John’s Seminary, located within BC’s newly acquired Brighton Campus at 127 Lake Street, is a Roman Catholic seminary dedicated to forming men to serve God and His Church as parish priests. The seminary community is quite diverse, comprised not only of men preparing to serve the Archdiocese of Boston and neighboring dioceses of New England, but also of men studying for dioceses located in other countries. And yet, despite the diversity, all of us are at the seminary for one common purpose: to be trained and equipped to answer the call to serve Jesus Christ in the priestly office of His Church. To this end, all of the activities that mark the day-to-day life of the seminarians are aimed at clarifying God’s call to each of us and instilling in us priestly virtues and wisdom. These activities anticipate the day when, by the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we will become priests who act “in the person of Christ,” making His love present in the world through celebrating the Eucharistic sacrifice, preaching His Word and the wisdom of His Church, and forgiving sins in His Name.

Seminary formation includes some exposure to the regular pastoral responsibilities of parish priests, such as visiting the sick and teaching confirmation classes. A larger portion of our time is devoted to study. In fact, once we are ordained priests, most of us will have spent six years in full-time studies. The first two years are spent in the pre-theology program, which covers study of philosophy from ancient to modern, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Spanish, Latin, and Greek languages. The last four years are spent in theology studies, which include courses on scripture, systematic and moral theology, and Church History. There are also courses like “Homiletics,” and “The Sacrament of Penance,” which specifically aim to prepare future parish priests for the more practical aspects of their ministry.

In addition to the time we devote to our academic coursework and pastoral responsibilities, we spend over two hours each day in the seminary’s Chapel. Indeed, the Chapel could be considered the most important classroom in the building. Every day, we attend Mass and pray the Church’s formal Morning and Evening Prayer in common. The entire community also attends a Holy Hour of Adoration daily at 5pm, during which time the Consecrated Host, the Body of Christ, is placed in a sacred vessel on the altar. Here, in silent, loving prayer and adoration before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we seek the grace of God in helping us to follow Him. Here, too, we ask His aid in living a life of celibacy and humility, so that in imitation of His own self-sacrificing love on the Cross we may be able to offer ourselves completely to Him and to His Church.

In the silence of the Chapel, an outsider might begin to sense why so many men with potentially bright futures in all sorts of careers would instead decide to pursue the path towards priesthood. As Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York has put it, “The Priesthood is a call, not a career; a redefinition of self, not just a new ministry; a way of life, not a job; a state of being, not just a function; a permanent, lifelong commitment, not a temporary style of service; an identity, not just a role.” The seminary is not about forming professionals in a particular career. No, we seminarians have set aside marriage and wealth because we have recognized and responded to God’s loving plan for each of us. In the last analysis, in fact, the seminary exists precisely as a school of God’s love, training men who will eventually become ministers of that love to the Church and to the world.

Nicolas Twaalfhoven is a seminarian studying at St. John’s Seminary for the Archdiocese of Boston. He a graduate of the Boston College class of 2006 and currently in Third year of Theology at St. John’s, in the class of 2011.

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