At the beginning of the Mass, Archbishop John C. Favalora welcomed those in attendance, including some 500 priests, 40+ bishops, a Prince of the Catholic Church (Sean Cardinal O’Malley), religious men and women, seminarians, and lay faithful. In his remarks, Archbishop Favalora stated: “Today we all welcome Archbishop Wenski back home.” Favalora shared, “I can attest Archbishop, God does provide.”
So, to begin, I would like to simply apologize for finishing this “Year in Review” a bit later than even I anticipated. Over the last several days, I have been resting, relaxing and even doing yard work outside. It seems that when I left home for the seminary in Miami my parents had no one to work on the yard. So, they let it go by the wayside. That is going to change over the next couple of weeks. Okay, so…where were we? Oh yes, Spring VAW.
The spring semester’s Vocations Awareness Weekend was so much more profound than the fall semester’s VAW. This time around, the seminary capped the number of young men who could attend to at about 70. Each of the seven dioceses of the Province of Miami brought priests and young men discerning God’s will for the their lives. The quality of guys that attended the weekend was a lot better than I had previously experienced. The men who came down know that there is something tugging at their hearts; they know that the Lord is calling them to do something special with their lives. In an increasingly materialistic world, the courage these young men exhibited in simply coming on the weekend was incredible. The Lord was working in so many ways!!
This morning, Archbishop John C. Favalora and Archbishop-elect Thomas G. Wenski, held a press conference at the Archdiocese of Miami Pastoral Center. Addressing the appointment of Bishop Wenski as fourth Archbishop of Miami, Archbishop Favalora issued the following statement:
“It was officially announced today at the Vatican that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted my letter of resignation as Archbishop of Miami. I have been privileged and blessed to serve as Metropolitan Archbishop of Miami for almost sixteen years. There is hardly a more exciting and challenging place than South Florida. As I move into retirement years, I bring with me very fond memories of my ministry with our dedicated priests and deacons, the wonderful religious and seminarians, and the faithful hard-working laity of the Archdiocese.
A few years back, when news of the clergy sexual abuse scandal hit the church, many people would think that young men would be turning away from the church and ignoring the call of our Lord to the priesthood. The biggest fear was that the number of men entering the seminary would drop dramatically. Though the clergy abuse scandal may have had some impact on numbers immediately after the news broke, things have not remained that way. In the past couple of years, numbers at seminaries across the United States and globally are on the rise.
In fact, at St. John Vianney College Seminary this year, the number of seminarians is at 35-year record high. The seminary welcomed 35 new seminarians at the beginning of August, bringing the total number of seminarians to 76 for the year. We are witnessing hope.
MIAMI | When former Air Force pilot Ryan Boyle, 32, finished his stint in the military to pursue a 10-year call to the priesthood, he inadvertently helped make history.
“The last time we had numbers like this was more than 35 years ago,” said Msgr. Michael G. Carruthers, rector-president of the seminary, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year.
St. John Vianney opened in 1959 as a high school seminary for the then newly created Diocese of Miami. It now takes in students from throughout Florida, other U.S. dioceses and the Bahamas who are pursuing a bachelor’s degree in philosophy or a two-year degree in pre-theology in preparation for the priesthood.
The larger-than-usual entering class has created some extra work for the faculty and staff.
“It’s been a lot of hard work, but we’re very excited. We’ve been adding extra tables, chairs, and preparing to accommodate these young men here,” Msgr. Carruthers said.
He credited Archbishop John C. Favalora’s support for the seminary – particularly his resistance to the idea of moving the education and training of priests-to-be away from the seminary setting – for “enabling the growth of a healthy environment and a strong model of priestly formation” that made the growth in enrollment possible.
“Some suggested that we have a study house attached to a university,” Archbishop Favalora said, where future priests would attend classes with other college students while living and being instructed on the particulars of the priesthood in the study house. “However, neither the U.S. Catholic bishops nor I agreed with that. Seminarians need to be trained in the seminary. That is how it is done and how the bishops want it done.”
The historic number entering the seminary also seems to defy the economic reality.
“I’m proud these men are answering God’s call. There is a lot of pressure, especially during these hard times, to go and do something else. However, they are here seeking (Christ),” Archbishop Favalora said. “It really shows that God’s ways are not our ways.”
The archbishop visited the seminary Aug. 22 to officially open the academic year with the traditional Mass of the Holy Spirit, during which he invoked the guidance of the Spirit upon the seminarians, their professors and the seminary’s staff.
“We’re invoking the Holy Spirit to transform us into something greater than what we appear to be,” Archbishop Favalora said. “We’re asking the Holy Spirit to make holy the work we’re going to do.”
“The Holy Spirit is the breath of the seminary. It is a string that connects us to Christ whom we follow,” said Martin Nguyen, 20, a third-year seminarian from the Diocese of Orlando.
“It is an honor to pass on the priesthood from one generation to the next. Passing on the faith is what this seminary is all about, and I’m very proud to see so many taking on that tradition,” Archbishop Favalora said.
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“The last time we had numbers like this was more than 35 years ago,” said Msgr. Michael G. Carruthers, rector-president of the seminary, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year.
