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September 12, 2001
St. John Vianney seminary begins third year
Enrollment growth, diversity, new leadership mark new year
By Alwen Bledsoe
As St. John Vianney Theological Seminary opens for a new year, it also celebrates its second anniversary (Sept. 8). Growth and new diversity in its student body, new curriculum development, and the appointment of Father Michael Glenn as president of Our Lady of the New Advent Theological Institute of the Archdiocese of Denver, are changes the new academic year brings, administrators said.
Already rector of St. John Vianney Seminary, Father Glenn takes over as president and CEO of the umbrella institute. Bishop Samuel Aquila was former rector of the seminary and president of the institute.
Our Lady of the New Advent Institute encompasses the seminary, the Diaconate Formation Program and the Division of Lay Formation, including the Catholic Biblical School and the Catechetical School. As president, Father Glenn will oversee all aspects of the theological institute's New Evangelization efforts "to catechize all the faithful," he said.
"We want to give continued efforts to provide more opportunities for lay people to grow in their knowledge of the faith," Father Glenn said. He added later: "I'm very honored by the archbishop's asking me to take it on. Hopefully it will work well with my responsibilities in the seminary. One of our hopes is that our seminarians, both as seminarians and later as priests, will be very active in the institute."
The relationship, he said, will allow the seminarians to not only develop their knowledge of the faith in the seminary, but to also practice their teaching skills through teaching other classes in the institute.
The seminary itself is experiencing new developments in curriculum and has named an endowed chair in systematic theology after Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, former Archbishop of Denver. It has also added the Archbishop Charles Chaput endowed chair in New Testament Studies and is in the process of raising funds for a new endowed chair in Hebrew Studies.
The chairs were announced at a Sept. 6 benefit dinner for St. John Vianney and Redemptoris Mater seminaries, where the cardinal received the Imago Dei award in honor of his inter-religious work.
Hebrew Studies is the study of the culture, language, and interpretation of the Old Testament, and highlights the commonality Jews and Christians share, explained Deacon John Neal, director of planning and stewardship for the seminaries. While the seminary curriculum has always focused on the Old Testament, the endowed chair will allow for the hiring of a scholar or scholars who specialize(s) in Hebrew Studies and will bring definition and clarity to its study, he said.
"I think the important thing about a chair of Hebrew Studies is that shared scriptural heritage that exists between Jews and Christians of the world," said Neal. "At least in our understanding of the Church, the New Testament, as we understand it, exists because of the Old Testament. ... A concrete understanding of what the Jews understood, what the Hebrews understood, of the Old Testament and what it meant to them, is fundamental to our faith. The New Testament doesn't stand alone. The Gospels, as we understand them, really give clarity to the Old Testament for the way we practice our faith. So that heritage that we share with the Jews is really basic to understanding who we are."
Along with this addition to its curriculum, the seminary is also seeing marked growth, with around 20 more seminarians in residence this year, said Anthony Lilles, prefect of studies at the seminary. Many of those, he added, come from unique backgrounds, including priests from Colombia, Korea, and the Ukraine, an Eastern Catholic priest, a seminarian from Mexico, an Orthodox seminarian, and the Theatines, a religious community who live near the seminary.
Of the new seminarians, 15 are in their first year — the "spirituality year" spent in prayer and discernment about their vocations as priests, said Lilles.
"They're from all over," he said, adding that Jake Samour, well-known throughout the archdiocese as former coordinator for Young Adult and Hispanic Youth Ministry for the Archdiocese of Denver, is one of the 15 first-year seminarians.
This year's 82 seminarians began classes Sept. 5 after a visit on the 4th by Cardinal Stafford to the seminary where he presented lectures to the seminarians and faculty.
It was a good, if busy, way to begin the year, said Father Glenn.
"It's always a great way to start the year, to have theological lectures kind of give focus to the year beginning with some pretty thought-provoking presentations," he said. "It helps demonstrate to the seminarians the importance of their studies if they're really going to address questions put forth by the modern world today."
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