By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily while celebrating Mass for the 60th anniversary of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Sept. 27, 2023.
It is good to see a goodly number of alumni here for celebration of St. Vincent de Paul’s 60th anniversary. Perhaps, for a few of you, this is your first time back since ordination. It is good that you are here, that we all are here.
The history of any institution made up of human beings will have its shadows as well as its lights. But today, who can say that these 60 years have not been years of great grace — and that the Church in Florida (and in the Southeast) is stronger and her future brighter because of this bilingual, multicultural center of priestly formation which for 60 years has formed priests for the state of Florida and beyond.
The word “seminary” derives from a Latin word meaning “seedbed” or “nursery.” Thus, seminaries are places where priestly vocations are nurtured and allowed to blossom. Some of the older alumni, I am sure, will remember that Archbishop Coleman Carroll loved to refer to them as “the first fruits.”
This property in what was then rural Boynton Beach was purchased in the early 1950s by Archbishop (Joseph) Hurley of (the Diocese of) St. Augustine which encompassed at that time most of the State of Florida. But it was under the leadership of the then Bishop Carroll that the seminary was built and entrusted to the Vincentian Fathers. These two great Churchmen had great vision and foresight; they laid the foundations for the growth of the Catholic Church here in Florida.
When the Vincentian Fathers withdrew in 1972, Archbishop Carroll, in the face of no little opposition and skepticism, insisted that this seminary remain open and that it be also a bilingual institution. Now, since the early 1980s, it is a regional seminary jointly owned by all dioceses of Florida. Priests serving on the faculty are for the most part diocesan priests who hail from the dioceses that send men here.
The priest who is the patron of this seminary, St. Vincent de Paul, was called even in his lifetime, the “Apostle of Charity.” He was the Mother Teresa of his day. In Pope Francis’ words, he was “a shepherd with the odor of the sheep.” While concerned for the poor, he was also just as concerned about the formation of the clergy and was instrumental in establishing seminaries to do just that.
St. John Paul II, in Pastores Dabo Vobis, writes that a seminary is “an educational community in progress.” Such were the apostles when Jesus first gathered them to himself – for, before he sent them out to preach and heal, he first called them “to be with him.” Here, seminarians are called to be disciples, that is to say, to be “students of Jesus.”
Here, at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary, we were not only to learn about Jesus, but we were also to learn Jesus – for to be credible apostles, we would have to first be faithful disciples. The four pillars of formation – the human, the academic, the spiritual and the pastoral – are thus designed to enable the seminarian to seek, to follow and to abide in Christ.
Much has changed in the priesthood in the centuries since Monsieur Vincent, and indeed much has changed in society as well as in the Church of Florida in the six decades since the Vincentian Fathers came to Florida to staff this seminary. These changes certainly affect the way priests here in the South minister to the People of God – we are a much more diverse and multicultural Church than 60 years ago.
But what hasn’t changed, the priest of tomorrow, no less than the priest of today, must resemble Christ “whose heart is still moved with pity” for those who seem like sheep without a shepherd.
In an increasingly secularized world, a world where many have lost the sense of the transcendent, the priest is an enigma, a sign of great contradiction. In a world in which people live, in the words of Pope Benedict, “etsi Deus non daretur” – as if God does not matter – the Church will always seem “out of step” and irrelevant. Such a Church will often be regarded if not with scorn and ridicule then with utter incomprehension. To quote Papa Ratzinger again, “...we priests experience this: the ‘world’ does not understand the Christian, does not understand the ministers of the Gospel. Somewhat because it does not know God, and somewhat because it does not want to know him. The world does not want to know God so as not to be disturbed by his will, and therefore it does not want to listen to his ministers...” Yet, by Christ’s design, we are “in” the world "for the life of the world."
This call of the Church to be “in the world” and to be “for the world” has been strongly emphasized by Pope Francis. He has criticized a “self-referential Church,” a Church closed in on itself. A priest, Pope Francis tells us, is not to build walls but bridges. And he has challenged all of us to “go out of the sacristies and go out to the “outskirts” “where people of faith are most exposed to the onslaught of those who want to tear down their faith.” Pope Francis reminds us that the priestly anointing we receive is not meant to just make us fragrant; rather, it is meant “for the poor, the prisoners, the sick, for those sorrowing and alone.”
The world desperately needs the priest’s witness that God in fact does matter. A witness that will be made more compelling by our detachment from material comforts and signs of status, by our readiness to obediently be available wherever our bishop may send us, and by a chaste celibacy which is the source of spiritual fecundity.
This seminary strives to form such witnesses – and you are living proof that – over the years – this seminary has been doing a pretty good job.
We ask the prayers of our patron, Saint Vincent de Paul, that this seminary will continue to form priests who are true pastors of souls, priests who serve as bridges for others to meet Jesus Christ, priests who are men of their times and men for their times.
