Saint John's Seminary (Massachusetts)

For other uses, see St. John's Seminary.

St. John's Seminary

Type	Private, Graduate
Established	1884
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Rector	James Patrick Moroney
Dean	Edward Riley
Vice Rector	Christopher K. O'Connor
Academic staff	seminary: 9 F/T, 12 P/T lay programs: 19
Students	91 seminarians, approx. 60 laity
Location	Brighton , Massachusetts , USA
Campus	Urban
Website	[1]

Saint John's Seminary, located in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, is a Catholic major seminary sponsored by the Archdiocese of Boston.

Founded in 1884, the seminary has 91 seminarians and approximately 60 lay students, mostly from dioceses in New England.

The current rector is Msgr. James P. Moroney, professor of liturgy and executive secretary of the Vox Clara commission of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

History

File:SaintJohnsSeminaryBrighton.jpg

St. John's Hall viewed from Lake Street

Founding

The construction of the Boston Ecclesiastical Seminary began in 1881, and Archbishop John Joseph Williams entrusted the seminary to the Sulpician Fathers. The school was completed in 1884, and the first students began classes there on September 22, 1884. The Seminary's first rector was John Baptist Hogan.

The Seminary was incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts in 1892. In 1911, at the request of Archbishop William Henry O'Connell, the Sulpicians withdrew from the seminary.

Grounds surrounding seminary

Saint John's Seminary adopted its present name in 1941.

Merger

Cardinal O'Connell Seminary, the archdiocesan minor seminary in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, was merged with Saint John's Seminary in 1968. In 1970 its programs were relocated to a Foster Street site in Saint Clement's Hall.

Crisis and recovery after 2000

Enrollment at Saint John's declined drastically in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Boston. From a peak of 86 students in the academic year 2001–2002, enrollment fell to 34 for the year 2005–2006. The seminary recovered thereafter to reach a student population of 63 two years later.

During the 2000s, nearly all the Seminary's land and buildings were sold to Boston College (BC), the neighboring Jesuit-run college. In 2001, BC leased St. Clement's Hall, formerly the site of the Seminary's undergraduate division, and it bought the property in June 2004. In May 2007, the Archdiocese sold the Seminary's open land, its library building and several other structures. Rector John Farren, OP resigned and protested the 2007 sale in a letter to Cardinal O'Malley.

After the land sales, the campus of the Seminary consists only of Saint John's Hall.

Current status

For the academic year 2009–2010 enrollment in the Seminary is 91, comprising 81 diocesan seminarians and 10 religious. Most students are from dioceses in New England, including the four Roman Catholic dioceses of Massachusetts: the Archdiocese of Boston, the Diocese of Fall River, the Diocese of Springfield, and Diocese of Worcester; the Archdiocese of Hartford, and the dioceses of Burlington, which encompasses all of Vermont, the Diocese of Manchester, which encompasses all of New Hampshire, and the Diocese of Providence, which encompasses all of Rhode Island. Beginning in the academic year of 2014-2015, St. John's began receiving seminarians from the Diocese of Rochester, NY. As well, that same year, the Diocese of Portland, Maine, which encompasses all of Maine, began resending seminarians. St. John's also serves as the seminary for a few men who are from dioceses outside the US.

Statue of St. Patrick, patron of the Archdiocese of Boston

College-level seminary candidates for the Archdiocese of Boston reside at Our Lady of Providence Seminary College in Providence, Rhode Island and various other institutions.

Current faculty

Administration and Formation Directors

• Rector – Rev. Msgr. James P. Moroney, S.T.L. Diocese of Worcester
• Vice Rector – Rev. Christopher O'Connor, S.T.L. '98

–

• Dean of Men and Director of Pastoral Formation – Rev. Edward Riley, M.Div. '00
• Director of Human Formation – Rev. Raymond Van De Moortell, Ph.D., M.L.I.S. '76
• Director of Spiritual Formation – Rev. Msgr. John McLaughlin, M.Div. '95
• Director of Intellectual Formation (Interim) – Prof. Paul Metilly (Ph.D. Candidate)
• Director of Pre-Theology – Rev. David Pignato, S.T.D. '00 Diocese of Fall River
• Director of Liturgy – Rev. Joseph Briody, S.S.L. '95 Diocese of Raphoe, Ireland

Resident and Full-Time Faculty

• Very Rev. Romanus Cessario, OP, S.T.D., '71 (Moral Theology)
• Rev. Msgr. Cornelius "Connie" M. McRae, '61 (Spiritual Director)
• Very Rev. Mark O'Connell, J.C.D. '90 (Canon Law)
• Rev. Stephen Salocks, S.S.L., '80 (Scripture)
• Rev. Joseph Scorzello, Ph.D., '69 (Spiritual Director, Philosophy)

• Dr. Janet Hunt, FAGO, D.M.A. (Music Director)

Adjunct Faculty

• Rev. James Conn, SJ, J.D., J.C.D. (Canon Law)
• Rev. John Grimes, Ph.D. (Pastoral Theology)
• Rev. Peter Grover, OMV, S.T.L, '90 (Greek)
• Rev. Msgr. Robert Johnson (Liturgy) Diocese of Worcester
• Rev. Thomas MacDonald, '13 (Philosophy)
• Rev. Mark Mahoney, J.C.L. '86 (Canon Law)
• Rev. Dennis McManus, D.Litt., Theo (Liturgy) Archdiocese of Mobile
• Rev. Mark Murphy, M.Div, M.A. '11 (Catechism)

--

• Dr. Angelica Avcikurt, Ph.D. (Spanish)
• Dr. Phillip Crotty, M.Sc. (Latin)
• Dr. Stephen Fahrig, S.T.D. (Scripture)
• Dr. Angela Franks, Ph.D. (Theology)
• Dr. Leonard Maluf, S.S.L., S.T.D. (Old Testament)
• Dr. Ann Orlando, S.T.D. (Patristics, Church History)
• Dr. Richard Spinello, M.B.A., Ph.D. (Philosophy – Ethics)

Location

St. John’s Seminary is located on Lake Street in Brighton, Massachusetts. The nearest transit station is the MBTA Boston College light-rail stop (Green Line).

Academics

Seminary programs

As a major seminary, an institution providing formation for the Catholic priesthood, Saint John's offers a four-year program leading to the Master of Divinity degree. There is also a program leading to the Master of Arts in Theology.

In addition, "St. John's Seminary offers a two-year program of initial formation for those candidates who are college graduates and have no prior experience of formal preparation for the sacrament of Holy Orders." Those who complete the Pre-Theology Program may qualify to receive a Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.).

St. John's Seminary exterior

Programs for lay students

The Seminary's Theological Institute for the New Evangelization offers programs for lay people wishing to work in Roman Catholic ministry, leading to the degrees Master of Theological Studies for the New Evangelization, and Master of Arts in Ministry (MAM). These programs are based at a separate campus in accordance with norms of the Holy See. The MAM division of TINE also offers non-credit catechist training programs in evangelization and apologetics.

Accreditation

The Seminary is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools and by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

Athletics

Seminarians partake in sports including basketball, football, golf, softball, and soccer., including intramural games with BC club teams. Twice a year St. John's Seminary competes in softball games against Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary (Weston, MA) and Our Lady of Providence College Seminary (Providence, RI). With access to the Flynn Recreation Complex at Boston College, seminarians contend in intramural basketball and soccer leagues against Boston College students.

Daily life

In addition to their daily schedule of classes and services in chapel, seminarians have off-campus pastoral assignments at least once per week. Most seminarians also have a "house job", such as sacristan or bookstore manager. Each seminarian meets his spiritual director at least once per month.

Organ in seminary chapel

Statue of St. John the Evangelist

Notable alumni

• Robert Joseph Banks, bishop of Green Bay 1985–2003
• Hugh F. Blunt (1877–1957), priest and poet
• George William Coleman, bishop of Fall River since 2003
• Daniel Anthony Cronin, archbishop of Hartford 1992–2003
• Richard Cushing, archbishop of Boston 1944–1970
• John Michael D'Arcy, bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend 1985–2009
• Jonathan DeFelice, OSB, president of Saint Anselm College
• Daniel Francis Desmond, bishop of Alexandria (Louisiana) 1933–1945
• George Albert Guertin, bishop of Manchester 1907–1931
• Daniel Anthony Hart, bishop of Norwich 1995–2003
• William A. Hickey, bishop of Providence 1921–1933
• Alfred Clifton Hughes, bishop of Baton Rouge 1993–2002 and archbishop of New Orleans 2002–2009
• Richard Lennon, bishop of Cleveland since 2006
• Joseph Francis Maguire, bishop of Springfield 1977–1991
• Richard Joseph Malone, bishop of Portland 2004–2012 and bishop of Buffalo since 2012
• John Brendan McCormack, bishop of Manchester 1998–2010
• John P. McDonough, Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Air Force
• Henry J. Meade, Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Air Force
• Roger Morin, bishop of Biloxi since 2009
• John Bertram Peterson, professor, bishop of Manchester 1932–1944
• Joseph John Rice, bishop of Burlington, 1910–1938
• Nicholas Samra, Melkite Greek Catholic bishop of Newton, appointed 2011
• William Laurence Sullivan (1872–1935), Unitarian minister
• James Anthony Walsh (1867–1936), co-founder of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers
• John Joseph Wright, professor, first bishop of Worcester 1950–1959, bishop of Pittsburgh 1959–1969, cardinal

Notable faculty

• Romanus Cessario, O.P., Master of Sacred Theology of the Dominican Order, professor of systematic theology and member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas.
• Christopher J. Coyne, Auxiliary Bishop of Indianapolis
• James Patrick Moroney, rector, professor of liturgy and executive secretary of the Vox Clara commission
• Louis Sebastian Walsh, bishop of Portland (Maine), 1906-1924
• Michael C. Barber, S.J., Bishop of Oakland, California, Director Emeritus-Spiritual Formation

Rectors

Under Sulpician administration:

• 1884–1889: John Baptist Hogan, S.S.
• 1889–1894: Charles B. Rex
• 1894–1901: John Baptist Hogan, S.S.
• 1901–1906: Daniel E. Maher, S.S.
• 1906–1911: Francis P. Havey

Under archdiocesan administration:

• 1911–1926: John Bertram Peterson
• 1926–1933: Charles A. Finn
• 1933–1938: Joseph C. Walsh
• 1938–1950: Edward G. Murray
• 1950–1958: Thomas J. Riley
• 1958–1965: Matthew J. Stapleton
• 1966–1966: Lawrence J. Riley
• 1966–1971: John A. Broderick
• 1972–1981: Robert Joseph Banks
• 1981–1986: Alfred Clifton Hughes
• 1986–1991: Thomas J. Daly
• 1991–1999: Timothy J. Moran
• 1999–2002: Richard G. Lennon
• 2002–2007: John A. Farren, OP
• 2007–2012: Arthur L. Kennedy
• 2012–present: James P. Moroney

External links

• Official website