Christmas and Kenrick-Glennon Seminary

Submitted on December 22, 2004

Archbishop Raymond L. Burke

Introduction As we celebrate the Birth of Our Lord, we are deeply conscious of the richness of the mystery of the Incarnation.Our mind will never comprehend all that the mystery means, yet God’s grace gives us faith in the mystery and helps us to plumb its deep meaning.Our faith helps us to understand the essential relationship between the mystery of the Incarnation and the mystery of the Redemption.Pope John Paul II, in fact, often refers to the two mysteries together as the mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation. On Christmas, we recall Christ’s Birth of the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem, acknowledging that the same Christ died for us on Calvary, rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, so that He might live for us always in the Church.At Mass on Christmas, Christ comes into our midst as really as He did at Bethlehem.He comes in His glorious Body for our spiritual healing and nourishment.The Body which He received at His conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit was transformed at His Resurrection, so that He might give us Himself in the Church always and, above all, in the Eucharist. In the words of Pope Paul VI, the presence of Christ in the Eucharist "is called ‘real’ not as a way of excluding other types of presence as if they were ‘not real,’ but because it is a presence in the fullest sense: a substantial presence whereby Christ, the God-Man, is wholly and entirely present" (Pope Paul VI, encyclical letter Mysterium Fidei, "On the Doctrine and Worship of the Most Holy Eucharist," Sept. 3, 1965, Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 57 [1965], p. 764).The image of the Infant Savior in the manger, before whom we kneel in prayer on Christmas, represents the same Christ who comes to us under the veils of bread and wine to nourish us with His true Body and Blood, holy Communion, and who remains with us in the consecrated hosts reposed in the tabernacle of our churches and chapels. Christ the Good Shepherd Inseparably connected with the real presence of Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament is the presence of Christ in the priest who, acting in the person of Christ, renews the Sacrifice of Calvary at Mass and who also acts in the person of Christ, Shepherd and Head of the flock, when he teaches, sanctifies and governs God’s holy people at every time and in every place.Writing about the wonder or amazement which should be ours before the Eucharistic Sacrifice, our Holy Father Pope John Paul II reminded us of the truth about the ordained priesthood, conferred through the Sacrament of Holy Orders: "This amazement should always fill the Church assembled for the celebration of the Eucharist.But in a special way it should fill the minister of the Eucharist.For it is he who, by the authority given him in the sacrament of priestly ordination, effects the consecration.It is he who says with the power coming to him from Christ in the Upper Room: ‘This is My Body which will be given up for you.This is the cup of My Blood, poured out for you ...’The priest says the words, or rather he puts his voice at the disposal of the One who spoke these words in the Upper Room and who desires that they should be repeated in every generation by all those who in the Church ministerially share in His priesthood" (Pope John Paul II, encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, "On the Eucharist in Its Relationship to the Church," April 17, 2003, n. 5c). The same Christ who was born into the family of Mary and Joseph at Bethlehem, and who died and rose from the dead for our salvation, so that He might live for us always, continues to be our Shepherd and Head through the Holy Father and the Bishops with their co-workers, the priests. At Christmas, our deepest gratitude for the coming of Christ to us in the Sacrament of the Eucharist is also deepest gratitude for the sacrament of the priesthood, which makes possible the holy Eucharist.Our grateful reflection upon the real presence of Christ with us in the holy Eucharist leads us to thank God for Christ’s pastoral presence with us through our priests and their apostolic service. The seminary and its importance Thanking God for our priests, our thoughts turn naturally to our archdiocesan seminary, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, in which, since 1893, those called to be priests of the archdiocese have been prepared to present themselves for priestly ordination.The seminary is the most important institution or service in the whole archdiocese.The reason is clear, for the whole life of the Church depends upon the service of worthy shepherds.A parish, for example, cannot exist without the service of a parish priest.Every Catholic institution depends upon the presence of the priest who is the sacramental sign of Christ’s pastoral charity toward us.If the seminary is sound and strong, then the life of the whole diocese will be sound and strong. To understand the importance of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, we recall how Christ called the Apostles at the very beginning of His public ministry and kept them in His company, preparing them for their priestly consecration at the Last Supper and for their priestly service in the Church, which He brought to birth by His Passion, death, Resurrection, Ascension and sending of the Holy Spirit. Pope John Paul II has given the following description of the seminary: "The seminary can be seen as a place and a period in life.But is above all an educational community in progress: It is a community established by the bishop to offer to those called by the Lord to serve as Apostles the possibility of reliving the experience of formation which our Lord provided for the Twelve.In fact, the Gospels present a prolonged and intimate sharing of life with Jesus as a necessary premise for the apostolic ministry" (Pope John Paul II, post-synodal apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, "On the Formation of Priests in the Circumstances of the Present Day," March 25, 1992, n. 60b). There are three types of seminaries: the minor seminary for high-school-age young men who are hearing the call to the priesthood; the college seminary for those who begin their studies for the priesthood after graduation from high school; and the theological seminary, in which the final four years of preparation are made before ordination.There is also a pre-theology program for men who have a university education but need to complete studies of philosophy in preparation for the study of theology.The Archdiocese of St. Louis no longer has a high school seminary program.Kenrick-Glennon Seminary houses the archdiocesan college seminary, Cardinal Glennon College, and the archdiocesan theological seminary, Kenrick School of Theology.The legal title of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary is St. Louis Roman Catholic Theological Seminary. In each type of seminary, the young men — and sometimes older men — receive formation, appropriate to their age and level of education.The formation addresses the human virtues needed by the priest, the spiritual life of the priest, the understanding of the faith and growth in the pastoral charity of Christ the Good Shepherd.I have often been asked when it is best for a young man to enter the seminary.Based on my personal experience and my experience as a priest and bishop, I believe that a young man, as much as possible, should enter the seminary when he hears God’s call to the priesthood in his prayer and through the counsel and direction of his parents and others. As archbishop, I clearly have concern and responsibility for the rich variety of institutions which serve the faithful in the archdiocese: parishes, Catholic schools, the Archdiocesan Curia, Catholic Charities, Catholic health care centers and so forth.I strive to give fitting attention and care to each.Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, however, receives my first attention because I know that if I am able to prepare and ordain worthy priests, then the priests will help me in my care of all of the institutions which serve the faithful in the archdiocese.The Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops reminds me daily: "Among diocesan institutions, the bishop should consider the seminary to have primacy of place, and he should make it the object of his most intense and assiduous pastoral care, because it is largely on seminaries that the continuity and fruitfulness of the Church’s priestly ministry depends" (n. 84). Considering personally the gift of the Catholic faith and the vocation to the priesthood, I realize the irreplaceable service of the priests who have ministered the sacraments to me, have taught me, and have directed and disciplined me. Our seminary Given the importance of the seminary for the whole life of a diocese, it will not surprise you to know that the Church urges every bishop, if possible, to have, at least, his own theological seminary, if not also a high school seminary and a college seminary.The Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops reminds me: "The bishop should insist firmly and with conviction on the importance of the major seminary as a privileged instrument for priestly formation, and he should endeavor to provide the diocese with its own major seminary, as an expression of the pastoral care for vocations in the particular Church.The seminary is at the same time an ecclesial community in its own right, forming future priests in the image of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd" (n. 85). A diocesan bishop rightly desires to form a seminary community, under his paternal care, in which, with the help of the seminary faculty, the future priests of the diocese are educated and formed for their priestly ministry. As you know, I was bishop of La Crosse in Wisconsin from Feb. 22, 1995, until Jan. 26 of this year, when I began my service as archbishop of St. Louis. While the Diocese of La Crosse has a small minor seminary for high-school boys who are hearing the call to the priesthood — from which, by the way, Joseph Lang, a member of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Parish in Oakville and a seminarian for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, will graduate in May 2005 — it does not have its own college or theological seminary.Given the present resources of the Diocese of La Crosse, it simply is not possible for it to have its own college or theological seminary.I was always grateful to the seminaries of other dioceses, which received the seminarians from the Diocese of La Crosse, and I tried to be as close to the seminarians as possible. I could not, however, give the kind of direction to the seminaries, which a bishop gives to his own seminary, and I could not have regular contact with the seminarians. One of my greatest sources of joy in coming to the Archdiocese of St. Louis is Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.I meet regularly with Msgr. Theodore L. Wojcicki, rector of the seminary, and Father Timothy P. Cronin, director of Cardinal Glennon College Seminary. I am regularly at the seminary for official functions and just to visit with the seminarians.Usually, on two or three afternoons of each week, I walk with one of the seminarians for an hour or so, which helps me to get to know him better.It also provides me with some much needed exercise. The walks are most enjoyable and helpful to both the seminarians and to me.There never seems to be any lag in the conversation. We are truly blessed to have our own college and theological seminary, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.I thank God for all those who, over the years, have sacrificed to build and sustain the seminary. At present, there are 19 seminarians from the archdiocese in Kenrick School of Theology; one of our seminarians is doing his theological studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.There are two seminarians from the archdiocese in the pre-theology program and 18 seminarians from the Archdiocese in Cardinal Glennon College.One of our college seminarians is completing his studies at the School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America, at which he has been a Basselin scholar for the past almost three years.There are also a good number of seminarians from other dioceses; for example, Bismarck, Des Moines, Jefferson City, Kansas City in Kansas, Kansas City-St. Joseph, Lafayette, Memphis, Omaha, Rockford, Sioux Falls, Springfield in Illinois and Springfield-Cape Girardeau, receiving their priestly formation at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. The more I get to know our seminarians, the greater is my hope for the future priestly ministry in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.Without exaggeration, I can assure you that our seminarians are excellent candidates for priestly ordination.I have every confidence in Msgr. Wojcicki and the other faculty, to whom I have entrusted the daily work of formation of our future priests.Also, the archdiocese continues to send priests for advanced studies to prepare them to serve on the seminary faculty. Conclusion In the next issue of the St. Louis Review, I will be writing about the apostolate of vocations and telling you more about our seminarians.Thank God their numbers are growing.This year, for instance, Cardinal Glennon College admitted eight outstanding new young men, all of whom had just graduated from high school.A similar number of present high-school seniors are expressing interest in the seminary or have already completed their application for admission to the seminary. It is important that I, as archbishop, am able to provide a sound seminary education for them. I ask your help in maintaining Kenrick-Glennon Seminary and in providing for it the best possible faculty. Also, a number of our seminarians are not able to pay for their seminary education.Recognizing their call to the priesthood, it is my responsibility to provide for them the financial aid needed, so that they may progress toward ordination.I ask your help in providing financial assistance to our seminarians. As you thank God for the priests who serve you and for our seminarians, I ask you to give a generous gift to the annual collection for Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, which will be taken up in your parish on Christmas Eve and Day.We can rightly be proud of our archdiocesan seminary and the seminarians studying there. Let us express our pride by sacrificing from our means to provide the seminary with much needed financial support.I thank you, in advance, for your sacrificial gift toward the education of our future priests. You and your homes will be in my prayers throughout the Christmas Season, especially at the Midnight and Christmas Day Masses.May the joy and peace of the Birth of our Lord fill your hearts and your homes.