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The Seminary is an Amazing Place

As this semester draws to a close, my 11th in seminary, I find it hard to believe how quickly time passes. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was moving in to St. Andrew’s Hall, the College Seminary at Seton Hall University. I remember thinking back then that ordination was a million years away. Now, it’s hard to believe that ordination, God willing, is right around the corner. Just three more semesters and this leg of my journey will be ending. My seminary days will be over and a whole new adventure will unfold before me.

A seminary is an amazing place. It is a place set apart from the world where one goes to discern their vocation. The seminary that I attend now, St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, is truly a special place. The imposing Beaux Arts style structure, built in 1929, is a sort of oasis in the midst of a bustling city. It sits on 40 acres in northwest Baltimore and, as anyone who has ever visited will tell you, is absolutely beautiful. But at the heart of the building is something even more beautiful, our chapel, dedicated to the Presentation of Mary in the Temple. This chapel is not only the heart of the building, but is the heart of our lives here in seminary.

A normal day here at St. Mary’s begins in the chapel. We gather for Morning Prayer before classes. After Morning Prayers we have a few minutes to grab a cup of coffee, usually the first of many throughout the day, before we head off to class. We have two class periods in the morning and two in the afternoon. After morning classes we make our way back to chapel for Mass. Once Mass is over we make our way to the refectory, our dining room, for lunch before preparing for the next round of classes. Finally, our day ends back in the chapel with Evening Prayer. After evening prayer there is time for homework, parish assignments, and relaxation.

For me, one of the greatest parts of seminary life is the sense fraternity. Here at St. Mary’s I live with about 80 seminarians and 12 priests. This helps to form what the Sulpician Fathers, who staff and run our school, call a “communaute educatrice”, an educational community where priest faculty and students form a single community. We live together, pray together, and share meals together. All of this helps to form great friendships and a strong sense of fraternity among the men who are discerning their call to the priesthood. After all, the primary purpose of seminary is to allow men to discern their call to the priesthood while at the same time preparing them for that call.

The blessing of seminary is that you are given the opportunity to take time to dedicate yourself to building your relationship with God. Over the course of several years you discern the vocation that God is calling you to live. At your disposal are a mentor, to help you form yourself externally, and a spiritual directory, to help you form yourself internally. These two tools are invaluable in the endeavor to form yourself in the person of Christ as a call to the priesthood is a call to give yourself completely to the service of Christ in His Church.

If you are reading this because you are discerning a call to the priesthood or someone you know is in the discernment process, know that the seminary is the greatest tool the Church gives us for discerning our vocation. Entering the seminary does not mean that you will automatically become a priest, rather it means that something is stirring in your heart and you’ve taken seriously the call to explore that stirring and grow your relationship with Christ. It is a place to cultivate a seed that was planted within you which will grow and blossom into whatever vocation God has in store for you. The word seminary, after all, comes from the Latin word “seminarium” which means a nursery garden. Please pray for all of our seminarians, and all those who are discerning a call to the priesthood, that they may have the strength and courage to devote themselves fully to their calling and to cultivate the seeds of faith planted within them.

Father Edward Kennedy

Father Edward Kennedy

Father Edward Kennedy was ordained on Saturday, May 21, 2016 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Father Edward Kennedy

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