In Christ: Shepherd and King

“I am the good shepherd,” we hear Jesus say in the Scripture for Easter time. The passages, especially from the Gospel according to St. John, which help us understand our relation to the Lord as our shepherd, are also used to draw our attention to those ordained to represent him to his people, to shepherd Christ’s flock as Christ would shepherd it. Ordinations to the priesthood for the Archdiocese are on May 19 this year, when ten men will become priests of the Church at Holy Name Cathedral. Through the invocation of the Holy Spirit and the laying on of my hands, they will be given the grace to love Christ’s people and will be called to serve in various capacities, especially as parish priests. (See stories, Pages 12-13.)

The call to ordained priesthood is a vocation from God discerned by the Church and confirmed by the bishop. The bishop uses others to help him call, form and prepare candidates for the priesthood. In the Archdiocese of Chicago, we have a high school seminary named in honor of Archbishop Quigley, the second Archbishop of Chicago. The downtown Gothic building which houses Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary was built under Cardinal Mundelein, the third Archbishop of Chicago. A couple of years ago, Quigley was recognized as one of the hundred best high schools in the country. Its program for the spiritual preparation of future priests is well worked out. I am proud of Quigley and grateful that the Archdiocese continues to provide a special place for those whom God calls to the priesthood when they are still quite young.

From Quigley, seminarians move to the college-level seminary, St. Joseph’s on the Loyola University campus. The seminarians take some of their courses at St. Joseph’s, where they live, and other courses, depending on their major, at Loyola University, which grants them their bachelor’s degree. Here, too, the spiritual formation program has been strengthened in recent years and the results are evident in the quality of the seminarians. The Archdiocese also sponsors four other programs for post-high school priesthood candidates. There is Casa Jesus, for Hispanic candidates; Bishop Abramowicz Seminary for Polish seminarians who are learning English; Tuite House at St. Columbanus Parish for African and African-American candidates and a non-residential program, Insearch, which calls working and professional men together once a week for prayer and study. All of these programs are directed by dedicated priests of the Archdiocese who help in the discernment and selection of vocations to the ordained priesthood.

The major seminary of the Archdiocese of Chicago is located at Mundelein, 40 miles north of Chicago. Cardinal Mundelein used the very first university charter of the State of Illinois, a charter obtained from the state legislature by the first bishop of Chicago, William Quarter, to begin a seminary with the official title of the University of St. Mary of the Lake. In Bishop Quarter’s time, the lake was Lake Michigan, and the university was downtown; in Cardinal Mundelein’s hands, a century later, the lake became St. Mary’s Lake, formed by damming a river in Lake County. Today, Mundelein Seminary is the largest and one of the very best diocesan theologates in the country. Besides seminarians studying for the Archdiocese of Chicago, there are seminarians from about 40 other dioceses, both in this country and from foreign lands as well. They come for spiritual formation and for the four-year theology course which leads, usually, to a Master of Divinity degree. Mundelein Seminary also has authority from the Holy See to grant ecclesiastical degrees. This coming year a Liturgical Institute will begin accepting lay students along with priests and seminarians. The Doctor of Ministry program also accepts lay students. The deacon and lay ministry formation programs are also administered at Mundelein; and the campus is home to the Center for Development in Ministry, designed to host conferences and provide ongoing formation for those in ministry.

These seminaries and programs are supported by tuition and fees, fund-raising events, endowment income, the annual seminary collection and other subsidies and gifts from donors. More explicit prayer for vocations to the ordained priesthood and attention to helping men hear the call and welcoming them have begun to result in our having more seminarians. Classes of ten for Chicago have been about average for the past generation, but the number being ordained will increase to 14 next year and then continue to grow. Mundelein Seminary will be welcoming at least 33 new seminarians for the Archdiocese of Chicago next fall, the largest number of new theologians for Chicago in over 20 years. The vocation directors, along with many other priests and lay people and religious women and men who assist them in calling men to priesthood, deserve our gratitude.

Christ is shepherd of his flock, the head and bridegroom of his Church; but Christ is also King of the Universe. The sacrament of Holy Orders is a form of participation in Christ’s headship of the Church; the sacrament of Confirmation is a form of participation in Christ’s kingship in the world. In May, bishops spend much time going from parish to parish in order to confirm during the Easter season. In the sacrament of Confirmation, the Holy Spirit comes with new strength and power to confirm the baptism often received as an infant. One’s baptism is sealed, and the one confirmed takes his or her place as a witness to the risen Lord in the world. Sometimes this is explained as “becoming an adult Catholic.”Adults, of course, have responsibilities to others; and the confirmed Catholic has a responsibility to worship God in spirit and in truth and to witness to Christ, to evangelize and transform the world.

During his trip to Syria this past week, the Holy Father spoke to the young Christians of Damascus: “Christ is calling you and awakening in you a desire to make your life something magnificent and beautiful, a determination to pursue high ideals, a refusal to be satisfied with mediocrity, and the courage to make commitments, with patience and perseverance.… In order to be able to respond to this call, strive constantly to grow in closeness to the Lord of life….You cannot be a Christian if you reject the Church founded on Jesus Christ; you cannot be called believers unless you put your faith into practice.… I invite you today to proclaim Jesus Christ with courage and fidelity, above all to the young people of your generation.… In seeing the way you live, your contemporaries ought to wonder what is your inspiration and the source of your joy.” All of us should pray often these days for those confirmed during the Easter season, from the Holy Saturday vigil to the feast of Pentecost.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago