Saturday, August 8, 2020

Rector’s Ruminations, July 31, 2020

 


Rector’s Ruminations

 July 31, 2020

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