Where they are serving...

Saint John’s Seminarians are serving in forty-three parishes this summer, all around New England:

St. Edith Stein Parish, Brockton, MA
St. Mary Parish, Holliston, MA 
St. Mary Parish, Dedham, MA 
St. Mary Parish, Lynn, MA
St. Anthony Parish, Cambridge MA 

Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted Parish, Waltham, MA 
St. Lucy & St. Monica Parishes, Methuen, MA
St. Agnes & St. Rose of Lima Parishes, Topsfield, MA 
St. John the Baptist Parish, Peabody, MA 
St. Joseph Parish, Needham, MA 
St. Theresa of Liseaux Parish,  Billerica, MA
Sharon & Walpole Collaborative, Walpole, MA 
St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, Brookline, MA 
St. Mary Parish, Cambridge, MA
Gate of Heaven & St. Brigid Parishes, South Boston MA 
St. Patrick Parish, Natick, MA
St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Bridgewater, MA 
St. Joseph Parish, Medway, MA
St. John the Evangelist, Attleboro, MA
Holy Family Parish, East Taunton, MA 
Saint John of the Cross Parish, Middlebury, CT 
St. Mary & St. Robert Bellarmine Parishes
St. Matthew Parish, Bristol, CT 
Saint Aedan & St. Brendan Parishes, New Haven, CT
Immaculate Heart of Mary & Immaculate Conception Parishes, New Hartford, CT
St. Bernadette Parish, Randolph, MA 
St. Michael Parish, Exeter, NH
Good Shepherd Parish, Berlin, NH
St. Elizabeth Parish, Bedford, NH
St. Patrick Parish, Pelham, NH
St. Agatha Parish, Woonsocket, RI
Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs Parish, Woonsocket, RI
St. Pius X Parish, Westerly, RI 
St. Joseph Parish, Woonsocket, RI
St. Philip Parish, Bristol, RI 
Our Lady of the Valley Parish, Easthampton, MA
St. Ambrose & St. Mark Parishes, Dorchester, MA 
St. Cecilia Parish, Leominster, MA 
St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish, Upton, MA

As you have seen on this blog, we also have several seminarians studying Spanish, Portuguese and French in language schools around the world. A half dozen men have been studying spirituality at the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha and a small group completed the pilgrimage to Campostella.  One Boston seminarian is in Calcutta and another is on The Rome Experience.

Please keep them all in your kind prayers that they may return to us refreshed, renewed and even more deeply in love with the ministries which the Lord gives his disciples the grace to undertake in his Name!

Summer Apostolate in Calcutta

Boston seminarian Kevin Leaver is in Calcutta these days working with the Missionaries of Charity.  Kevin writes:

Our schedule is basically the same each day:

5:00am - arise
5:30am - walk to Mother House of Missionaries of Charity for Mass
6:00am - Mass
7:30am - Sisters provide tea and bananas for breakfast
8:30an - Morning Apostolate in "Kalighat", mother’s first home for destitute and dying men
noon - lunch
3-5pm - Afternoon Apostolate at "Daya Dan", home for disabled boys
9:00pm - curfew at convent.

Please keep Kevin and all our seminarians in your prayers as they learn, work and grow in their summer apostolates!

Summertime Changes in the MTS Faculty

Summertime is often a time of transition in the world of academia, and the Saint John’s Seminary community is no exception to this rule. As we head into August and look forward to the beginning of a new academic year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Angela Franks for her great service as the director of the Master of Theological Studies (MTS) program at the Theological Institute. Dr. Franks, a co-founder of our MTS degree program, has decided to step down from the directorship in order to fully dedicate her energies to the work of teaching, an endeavor which is very dear to her heart. She will continue to play a significant role at the Institute as a full-time instructor, teaching courses to our MAM and MTS students. All of us at the Saint John’s Seminary are deeply grateful to Angela for the vision, passion and dedication which she has shown in laying the groundwork for the MTS degree and shepherding the program through its inception and initial growth. We wish her all the best in her new endeavors at the Theological Institute.

I would also like to thank Dr. Stephen Fahrig, Associate Dean of the Theological Institute, who has agreed to serve as the next director of the MTS program. Dr. Fahrig takes on this new responsibility while retaining his position as associate dean and as a professor at the Seminary. He looks forward to building on the good work that Angela has done with the MTS while drawing on his own experiences in the academic and apostolic fields to further develop the program’s potential for producing well-trained, effective disciples for the New Evangelization.

The Beauty of Birth...

The Saint John's Seminary Community was blessed today by the birth of  Dylan Richard Barry, son of Sandy Barry, our Director of Annual Giving, and her husband Craig.  Sandy writes: "He is 7lbs, 3oz, 20" long, and (obviously) the cutest thing we've ever seen/completely perfect in every way."  

"You formed my inmost being; 

you knit me in my mother’s womb."

Psalm 139:13

French Language Studies...

We just heard from Boston seminarian John Guinan who is studying French in France this summer.  He writes: "It has been wonderful to visit so many places where Catholicism has left its mark. Saturday I went to the church of St. Lazar in Autun, where the Church first introduced statues as a way of communicating the faith. Then, yesterday, I was in Avignon where I toured the Papal Palace. Incredible to see!  I've attached a picture below. 

Please pray for all our seminarians in parishes throughout New England, studying languages in Europe and South America, and even in Calcutta with the Sisters of Charity!

Tallis Scholars in the Summer

Among the participants in the Tallis Scholars group this summer at Uppingham School in England are our own Dr. Janet Hunt and seminarian Josh Wilbur.  Here's a short video of Dr. Hunt conducting a group of the summer scholars.  How blessed we are by the gift of music which opens our hearts to the beauty of the face of God!

With Josh Wilbur in Rome...

Our Seminarian Josh Wilbur (Hartford) is spending part of the summer with the Tallis Scholars in England,  but first he stopped off in Rome to visit with Kevin Leaver (Boston), studying at the North American College.  Josh writes: "Here are some photos from my trip to Rome... most from St. Peter's Basilica.  St. Peter's was exactly as I expected; marvelous and overwhelming!  I had the opportunity to have private Masses three out of my four days there with Fr. Michael Casey (5th year priest at the NAC for the Archdiocese of Hartford, now back home at his new parish in Manchester, CT) and Kevin Leaver.  The Pallium Mass on Sunday with Pope Francis was a wonderful experience... one that I won't soon forget.  Kevin and I also climbed the 551-steps to the cupola of St. Peter's!  Woof!

Doubting Thomas is Us

We usually point a finger at Thomas.  Doubting Thomas.  Unbelieving Thomas.  Weak in Faith. But listen to the last prayer of today’s Mass, when we will ask God “that we may recognize [the Lord] with the Apostle Thomas by faith as our Lord and our God.”

Each of us doubt.  The faith of each one us fails.  And God, in his infinite patience says to us, “look…it’s me.  Be not unbelieving, but believe.”