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Dear Seminary Community,
As the summer break comes to an end, I have some exciting
news to share with all of you. We all know that Ms. Julia Parker can never be
replaced but we are excited to welcome to the Seminary community Mr. Nicholas
J. Will as the new Seminary Organist and Director of Liturgical Music. He has
recently been the Director of Liturgical Music at the North American College in
Rome and he is Founder and President of the Saint Gregory Institute of Sacred
Music. Welcome Mr. Will!
I am also happy to announce that Fr. Lee Gross will have a
special assistant this year in the person of Fr. Diego Ruiz, I.V.E. Fr. Ruiz
will be the Assistant Dean of Men, lending a hand to Fr. Gross and sharing the
work of the Dean of Men.
If you have
been following the Seminary Facebook page, you will know that Archbishop Lori
recently received permission from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of Sacraments in Rome to insert in the liturgical calendar of the
Archdiocese of Baltimore the optional memorial of Blessed Stanley Rother. The
Congregation has also granted the indult for the Mass in honor of Blessed
Stanley to be celebrated in St. Bernard’s Chapel for priests who are part of a
pilgrimage or for priests who celebrate Mass for the benefit of the members of
a pilgrimage. We are grateful to the Holy Father for this tremendous honor.
Starting Monday, August 3, a group of administrators, staff,
faculty, and seminarians will begin a Strategic Planning Summit led by the
Center for Catholic School Excellence. We will consider the responses that many
of you gave during the multiple focus groups conducted this past year. We will
complete our work on Wednesday, August 5, and will produce the first draft of
our new five-year Seminary Strategic Plan (2021-2026), which we will be sharing
with the Seminary community this fall for your feedback. Please pray for this
endeavor.
We will soon be welcoming to Mary’s Mountain many new
seminarians and one priest-student – Fr. Juan Garcia. Fr. Garcia has been
serving the Hispanic community in the Archdiocese of Baltimore for the past few
years. He has been assigned by Archbishop Lori to the Mount as a full time
English as a Second Language (ESL) student. He will be a member of our
community for this year as he experiences a total immersion into the English
language, giving him an opportunity to strengthen his language skill so as to
better serve both the Hispanic and English speaking communities in the
Archdiocese.
After such a long and unusual hiatus, I am looking forward to
the Seminary being once again full of seminarians. New seminarians arrive
Sunday, August 9, during the afternoon. On Wednesday, August 12, the First
Theologians arrive for an integration activity which will take place on
Thursday with new seminarians in their class. All other returning seminarians
will arrive on Thursday, August 13 in time for Mass at 7:15 pm with Archbishop
Lori.
Life on campus during the next few months will be different
due to the various COVID-19 adaptations. As I said to the seminarians in my
Zoom meeting a few weeks ago, we are trying to manage the risk and still have
priestly formation in person. We have devised many ways to “protect” ourselves
and others from the spread of the virus but, as I was praying about the
beginning of the semester, I sensed that God was asking us not to forget the
power of prayer as a way to protect ourselves. So, I now ask the entire
Seminary Community to pray daily (if possible, even more than daily) the Memorare,
invoking Our Lady, Queen of the Mount, to protect the entire Seminary community
from the virus. Let us pray this prayer until the risk of COVID-19 has
subsided:
MEMORARE
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never
was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or
sought your intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O
Virgin of virgins, my mother; to you do I come, before you I stand, sinful and
sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in
your mercy hear and answer me. Amen.
Our Lady. Queen of the Mount, pray for us.
In Christ,
Msgr. Andrew Baker
