On Friday, the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, the official opening of the 2022-2023 formation year took place at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Victoria.
A meeting was held for all the lecturers who teach in the Seminary together with the formators and the Bishop. During the meeting a reflection was made on the current challenges linked to intellectual formation and those present discussed various aspects regarding the teaching of philosophy and theology.
In his intervention the Rector Rev. Richard N. Farrugia, while appreciating the commitment of each member of the staff, invited the teaching body to welcome the call that the Pastoral Plan of the Diocese is making regarding the the centrality of the Word of God in the life of the Church, and finds creative ways to convey this importance in the way we teach and stimulate students reflection in our courses.
Bishop Anton Teuma also expressed his appreciation for the work carried out for the benefit of the formation of seminarians and stressed that when each lecturer makes his commitment seriously, this also translates into valuable vocational work.
He said that the formation must prepare seminarians who will be the priests of tomorrow and this, among others, requires that we form seminarians who are able to live together and work together, who are flexible for the various tasks that the Church still asks of them, to not worry so much about the success or failure of numbers in personal initiatives, but rather to be attentive persons to the individuals they meet.
Later, the Bishop together with the formators and lecturers joined the seminarians, their families, the Brothers and Friends of the Seminary, the Sisters and the volunteers and workers for the celebration of Mass in the Chapel.
In his homily, the Bishop reflected on the reading of the day and called on the seminarians – and the priests present – to be not only experts of God but also experts of humans. These two aspects are linked together, because just as man cannot do without God, so God cannot do without man so much so that Christ himself became man.
Bishop Teuma said that this requires the priest to be a person who has an intimate connection with God and an intimate connection with his fellow human beings. “Today’s world needs to have this expert of humanity and divinity and we should not think that the ministerial priesthood is something irrelevant or decadent for our times.”
Finally, the Bishop invited the seminarians to look for the essence of the priesthood precisely in this mission to really help people by giving them what they need most: God. “Only then can man be truly human and therefore free,” he said.
After the celebration of the Mass there were convivial moments in the Seminary Refectory.
The community of the Gozo Seminary is this year formed by eight seminarians and a deacon, two of whom are doing the intermediate year in Italy and Guatemala. In mid-October there were also two young people who started the Preparatory Year.
The Diocese of Gozo said that “the People of God are encouraged to continue accompanying the seminarians with their prayers for them and for more vocations.”
Photos: Diocese of Gozo