Roman Echoes 2018 - Volume 22, Issue 2

RomanEchoes FEBRUARY 2018

VOLUME 22: ISSUE 2

T H E P O N T I F I C A L N O RT H A M E R I C A N C O L L E G E

Handing on the Tradition IN THE HOLY LAND AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

10 Christmas at St. Peter's 16 Holy Land Pilgrimage 22 Eparchy and Ordinariate 25 World Day of the Poor

Contents 16 10 Features 8 Why Tradition?

9 Military Chaplaincy

10 Christmas with the Holy Father Serving for Pope Francis at St. Peter's

12 Hall Traditions 14 Casa Red Room 15 The Fr. Carola Seminar

16 Holy Land Pilgrimage Seeking the Lord in Galilee and Jerusalem

22 The Eparchy and the Ordinariate

New ecclesial traditions at the College

24 House Chronicler

25 World Day of the Poor The College helps begin a new tradition

26 Academic Spotlight 27 Grandma's Roman Echoes 28 Francis Parater 32 Re-Echoes: Our Lady of Humility

20 Basilicas Around the World 2

The Pontifical North American College

Cover Image: Seminarians listen to the Gospel at Capernaum's White Synagogue

25 22 Updates 5 Rector’s Corner 6 NAC Voices 18 Snapshots 21 Creative Corner

30 ICTE 33 Economo’s Corner 34 Institutional Advancement

From the Editor

"Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught."

2 Thessalonians 2:15

On the very spot in Galilee where Jesus invited his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood, seminarians on the College’s annual Holy Land pilgrimage hear again the “bread of life" sermon from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. ur cover image speaks of Tradition—receiving again what O was handed on before, so that we in turn may tell the next generation. The pages that follow explore that theme further; all the traditions large and small, which by God’s grace help to pass along the one Tradition of the Word made flesh. May He dwell among us always and in all our ways!

Christian Huebner, ‘19 Archdiocese of Washington Editor-in-Chief ROMAN ECHOES 2016 • VOLUME 20: ISSUE 4

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Contributors

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Christian Huebner ‘19, Archdiocese of Washington MANAGING EDITOR Joseph Boustany ‘19, Diocese of Lafayette

ASSISTANT EDITOR Nathanael Anderson ‘20, Archdiocese of Washington LAYOUT & DESIGN EDITOR Tyler Johnson ‘19, Archdiocese of Seattle ASSISTANT LAYOUT & DESIGN EDITORS Christopher Boyle ‘19, Archdiocese of Boston Andrew DeRouen ‘20, Diocese of Lake Charles PHOTOGRAPHERS Zach Brown ‘19, Diocese of Toledo Justin Weber '20, Archdiocese of Milwaukee Denis Nakkeeran '20, Archdiocese of Boston

Administration

of the Pontifical North American College RECTOR Very Rev. Peter C. Harman ‘99 VICE RECTOR FOR ADMINISTRATION Rev. Kerry Abbott, OFM Conv. ICTE ’14 VICE RECTOR FOR SEMINARY LIFE Rev. Adam Y. Park ‘05 ACADEMIC DEAN AND ROMAN ECHOES FACULTY LIAISON Rev. John P. Cush ’98, C’15 SUPERIOR, CASA SANTA MARIA Rev. Msgr. Fred Berardi C’82 DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR CONTINUING THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION Rev. James M. Sullivan, OP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT Mark Randall, CFRE For more information about the Pontifical North American College, subscription questions, or to learn about ways you can financially support “America’s Seminary in Rome,” please contact Mark Randall, CFRE, Executive Director, Institutional Advancement.

Tel: (202) 541-5411 Fax: (202) 722-8804 Email: pnacdc@pnac.org Website: www.pnac.org This publication is written, edited and photographed by the students of the Pontifical North American College.

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LEFT: The College celebrates its patronal feast, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Rector’s Corner Traditions abound!

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t should not be a surprise that our lives at both the North American College seminary community and the Casa Santa Maria graduate house are filled with many traditions.

In fact, our lives are steeped in them.

Perhaps it is because we are part of the Church, a large and universal family of over two thousand years. Like any family, our lives are celebrated, remembered and carried out in traditions which go all the way back to our beginning. Perhaps it is because we live close together as a unique community, with common hopes and experiences. Perhaps it is because we live a particular stage in our lives surrounded by each other, taken away from home, so to speak, to be about a common purpose—to serve Christ and his Church as her priests—which fosters devotion to many traditions.

It is likely a combination of all of these realities which make our lives full of traditions big and small. In this issue, you will hear from alumni and current students about their favorite and most meaningful traditions, some specific to our home, some to Rome, some to Catholicism. But some things can be said of them all:

Traditions are an acknowledgment of the blessings we have received. No tradition is carried out only on an individual level. It is a shared experience with those who surround our lives. In this, our College sees its rich blessings of friendships formed and character built by being around those who share our time here. We are better because of those around us.

Traditions are an occasion to honor those who have gone before us. The living out of traditions makes us ask how a certain practice, celebration, or devotion became a part of our life.

This points back to the experiences of our ancestors and predecessors. When I meet with alumni of many generations, I hear them speak with fondness about life at the College twenty, thirty, or fifty or more years ago. Terms like “bum run,” which was the free time students had for a trip, or “push,” the time of intensive study in preparation for oral examinations in Latin at the end of the semester, may not be used any more, but the students today have their own customs based on variations of quite similar experiences. Comparing the similarities and variations give us

a reverence for those who “paved the way” ahead of us.

Traditions should move us to be grateful. All of these glimpses back make us realize how powerful the Providential love of God is in our lives. Sometimes, to our detriment, we are inclined to forget this, or live only in the moment. But tradition gives perspective, and a perspective of any depth helps us be grateful for all which God provides.

I hope that reading this issue will ignite warm memories of your experiences here, and foster ever greater devotion and appreciation for the gift of the North American College.

Thanks for your interest and support.

Very Reverend Peter C. Harman, STD. ’99, Rector

Traditions are an acknowledgment of the blessings we have received. No tradition is carried out only on an individual level.

It is a shared experience with those who surround our lives.

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STUDENT QUOTES . . . . . .

VOICES

G.K. Chesterton once wrote that tradition “means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. Tradition is the democracy of the dead.”

Why do you think we should give them a voice?

Our ancestors are really our leaders to follow. The very word ancestor comes from the Latin ante, that is “before,” and cedere, which means “to go.” So it's not so much that we permit them to have a voice, but that we take our direction from them and listen to them first, if for no other reason than our own good!

Richard Aubol, Class of 2019, Diocese of St. Cloud

“My family’s unique, and at times bizarre, traditions have created many of my fondest memories. For me, traditions are a beautiful way of not only remembering cherished people but also carrying them with me in the present and sharing them with the future.”

Deacon Daniel Carr, Class of 2018, Diocese of Greensburg

“Chesterton uses the word democracy to refer to tradition. In democracy we refuse to submit ourselves to the opinion of the ‘oligarchy’ of some experts because the authority of tradition embraces and binds Christians from everywhere and always. Semper et ubique.”

Gabriel Sánchez-Navarro, Class of 2021, Diocese of Santa Rosa in California

“It is only because of those souls of the past that we have received what is ours today. What they have passed on, good or bad, has endured the testings of human experience. We give voice to those who passed on to us our traditions so that we may learn from their experience and pass on what is for the glory of God and the good of our community.”

Dillon Bruce, Class of 2021, Diocese of Richmond

“Sacred Tradition grounds our entire existence in Christ, the hope of the world.

It is the foundation which the Apostles laid as skilled spiritual masters, as those who knew and were with Christ. Therefore, through things divinely instituted and unchangeable, and aspects human and adjustable, we are able to encounter Christ ever a new in this Sacred Mystery, where ‘no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, namely Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 3:11).”

Paul Abbruscato, Class of 2020, Diocese of Camden

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OF NAC

. . . . . . . ALUMNI QUOTES From your time at the College, what is one of the traditions that you now treasure most?

“I value numerous NAC traditions that helped form me to be a parish priest in my diocese. I most of all treasure the experience of walking to, praying at, and celebrating Mass in the Lenten Station Churches. They brought me a deep love for the saints and the meaningful impact of the season of Lent.”

Fr. Ryan Moravitz, Class of 2008, Diocese of Duluth

“I treasure the memories of the ‘clap-ins’ and the ‘clap-outs.’ With bells ringing and the stairs lined with faculty members and the Orientation Team, we were warmly welcomed. At the end of our time at the College we were ‘clapped-out’ by priest-mentors, classmates and friends, and we were, thanks be to God, sent home to preach the Gospel!”

Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill, Class of 1998, Diocese of La Crosse and Associate General Secretary of the USCCB

“Beginnings and endings are important, and I will always remember with fondness the PNAC traditions of welcoming and farewell. My class was the last to come over on one of the Italian liners, a great tradition in itself. We sailed the SS Leonardo Da Vinci for 12 days from New York to Naples. After a bus ride of several hours, we arrived at the North American College and were greeted at the foot of the steps leading to the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception by a group of students marking the way, accompanied by the tolling of the seminary bells. Four or five years later, as we departed through the Firmum Est for ministry in the United States, the same bells pealed to wish us well, and students spontaneously assembled to offer their prayers and encouragement.”

Most Rev. Peter Sartain, Class of 1978, Archbishop of Seattle

“Rome was alive with the grace of the Holy Spirit during the Second Vatican Council. Our class was fortunate to have been at the College during the last two sessions of the Council, including the closing ceremony. Church history was unfolding in our very midst. Referring to and rereading the documents is one of my special traditions.”

Fr. Jay Haskin, Class of 1968, Diocese of Burlington

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Why Tradition? Reflections of a Deacon R E V. M R . P H I L L I P D U FO U R ’ 1 8, D I O C E S E O F P R OV I D E N C E

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raditions. We all have them. Some might be particular to our families, such as eating certain foods on certain holidays. Others might be specific to certain cultures or places. Even here at the North American College, we have our own unique traditions, such as the annual Spaghetti Bowl on Thanksgiving weekend. As Catholics, we see myriads of traditions in the life of the Church: the imposition of ashes to begin the season of Lent, the lighting of the Paschal Candle during Easter, and many more.

But why have traditions? What possible purpose do they serve? In the 1971 musical film Fiddler on the Roof, the character Tevye gives the answer: “Because of our traditions, everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do.” I believe this answer is quite revealing. Traditions, in a way, help to strengthen our connection to a particular community and bolster a sense of solidarity among its members.

It reinforces a group’s identity, particularly in places in the United States where there are many ethnic groups with their own cultures and traditions. Traditions help us remember who we are.

Growing up in an ethnically Italian parish in my hometown of Bristol, Rhode Island, every year we would continue the tradition of honoring Our Lady of Mount Carmel with a festival and religious procession in July. This beautiful custom dates back to 1899,

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Deacon Phillip Dufour ’18 (Providence), proclaims the Gospel at his Mass of Thanksgiving after his diaconate ordination.

when the Italian immigrants first observed this feast in Bristol, a tradition they inherited from their ancestors in Italy. Observing this feast today certainly helps the parishioners to preserve their Italian heritage, but more importantly to honor, respect, and pass on the faith they received from their ancestors.

But, as Teyve also said, traditions help each of us know “what God expects him to do.” One of the beautiful aspects of our Catholic faith is that we have and uphold many traditions in the Church which open up for us the mysteries of our faith. Some of these traditions even date back to the time of the Apostles. In the rite of ordination for bishops, priests, and deacons, the

practice of the ordaining bishop laying his hands on the head of the man being ordained goes back to the event recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, to the first Christian community, when the Apostles ordained the first deacons (Acts 6:6). This sacred act points to the reality that God has chosen these men for ministry and that they are entrusted with sacred duties. Traditions such as this are ways in which God speaks to His People and express what is called Apostolic Tradition.

Traditions. How important it is to have them in our lives! No one says it better than Tevye: “Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as…as a fiddler on the roof!” n

A Call to Service: Seminarians in the Military Chaplaincy TIMOTHY MERGEN ’20, DIOCESE OF MADISON, CO-SPONSORED ARCHDIOCESE FOR THE MILITARY SERVICES

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he long tradition of military chaplains serving in the United States predates the birth of our country with the founding of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps on July 29th, 1775. Yet many are surprised to learn that Catholic priests did not officially serve in the U.S. military until 1846.

It is hard to imagine a U.S. Chaplain Corps—whose name comes from the story of St. Martin of Tours offering his military cloak (cappa) to a beggar—without the aid of Catholic priests for over seventy years. While the Archdiocese for the Military Services (AMS) is facing a dire shortage of Catholic priests to meet its global pastoral needs (currently there are only approximately 200 priest chaplains for the 1.8 million Catholics served by the AMS), there is an increasing number of North American College seminarians who are dedicated to ensuring that the men, women and children associated with the U.S. military never go without access to a Catholic priest.

At the core of this initiative are five NAC seminarians who are currently in the Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program with the AMS. Under the Co-Sponsorship Program the AMS pays for half of the costs of a seminarian’s education with the understanding that the man will serve at least one term of active duty service as a military chaplain. Four of the five Co-Sponsored men at the College who are preparing

to be future U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force Chaplains came to seminary with previous military experience.

All four credit this service as a direct influence in discovering their vocation to the priesthood. Their experience and increased presence at the College has helped to shed light on the pastoral needs for the worldwide Catholic military community.

Apart from those formally Co-Sponsored, the NAC continues a great tradition of working with the AMS to provide other initiatives for all seminarians to work with Americans stationed at military installations overseas. Currently, nine seminarians are assigned to do weekend apostolic work at the Naval Support Activity in Naples, and another seven serve

Matthew Faucett ’19 (Green Bay), is sworn in as a 2nd Lieutenant for the United States Army as a military chaplain candidate by Fr. Joshua Rodrigue '02 (Houma-Thibodaux).

at Aviano Air Base in northern Italy.

Ramstein Air Base in Germany also has a rich history of hosting seminarians for summer parish assignments. These assignments provide seminarians with genuine opportunities for pastoral work, enriching the lives of both the American military community and seminarians alike.

Seminarian reaction to the military apostolates has been overwhelmingly positive. Those fortunate enough to participate regularly comment that the necessary virtues being fostered in the military greatly complement those required of the priesthood. It is no surprise then that the military is one of the single greatest sources of vocations for the Church in the United States. Despite the fact that less than one half of one percent of the U.S. population serves in the military at any given time, an average ordination class of new priests usually consists of at least five percent who have had prior military experience and another fifteen percent that have come from military families. For many of these, such as the Co-Sponsored seminarians at the North American College, they have experienced firsthand what it is like to be deployed and without access to a Catholic priest. As a result, they are first in line to ensure that no military service member must ever go without the Sacraments and are eager to continue the saintly tradition of Catholic military chaplaincy. n

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CHRISTMAS EVE ST. PETER'S BASILICA

Anthony Gorgia II '21 (New York) prepares to serve Christmas Eve Mass for Pope Francis at St. Peter's Basilica.

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Serving for the Pope on Christmas Eve

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A N T H O N Y J OS E P H G O R G I A I I ’ 2 1 , A R C H D I O C E S E O F N E W YO R K

he angel said to the shepherds: I proclaim to you a great joy; today the Savior of the world is born for you, alleluia.” The words of this second antiphon of Morning Prayer of Christmas Day give us at least two reasons for joy every Christmas season. First, we rejoice in the gift of a Savior given to the world. And we rejoice also in the gift of all the heralds who have made this gift known. That means the Mother who became the tabernacle of our Lord, the angels who sang their hymns of praise, and all those heralds of our own day who continue to announce Christ among us. These thoughts were much in mind as I reflected upon my experience of having served the Mass of Christmas Eve at St. Peter’s Basilica with Pope Francis, a true herald of the Christ Child.

In the Chapel of the Pietà gathered nineteen seminarians of the Pontifical North American College who eagerly prepared for the surreal moment when we would grasp the hand of the Vicar of Christ and offer him our greetings.

Our anticipation grew as the Masters of Ceremonies announced, “The Holy Father is on his way.” At last we beheld

the Pope, with his white cassock we had once seen only from afar, standing right before us. As he came to each of us, greetings poured from the depths of our hearts: “Thank you for being an inspiration to all of us…Thank you for your leadership of the Church…Thank you for your joy.” To this he often humbly replied, “Do not forget to pray for me.”

After having spoken with each of us, the Pope went into his sacristy to prepare for Mass. Some of us were asked to present vestments to him as he was vesting. I stood outside his sacristy, awaiting my turn to bring him his pallium. When I entered the sacristy, I saw the Pope draping his chasuble over his back, at an altar that bore a crucifix which glimmered in the light of the candles. In the complete stillness of the room stood Pope Francis, who was collecting himself in deep prayer and meditation to prepare for the mysteries he was about to celebrate. He glanced at me as I handed the pallium to a Master of Ceremonies, but I had the sense that his mind was undividedly fixed upon the Lord he was about to make present upon the altar.

A moment more, and the Holy Father emerged again, ready to begin the celebration of Mass. The procession commenced, and I stood behind the Pope, to bear his mitre once he arrived at the altar. As we passed the threshold of the Chapel of the Pietà, which had been veiled by curtains, cameramen scrambled to catch the first glimpses of the Pope. How striking it was that the whole world was waiting to hear anew from his lips the news of great joy—that to man has been given hope … for to man has been born a Savior.

The opportunity to serve Holy Mass with Pope Francis is one that will always remain precious to me. As I think back to the experience of my encounter with the Pope, I hold it to be a tremendous grace and a powerful moment on my journey toward the priesthood. As I continue to cherish the night that I served Mass for the Pope, I pray for the grace that one day my own ministry to the people of God will continually herald the Divine Child who came to dwell among us. n

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The men of Second Hospital hall sport some of their hall gear during a community outing.

Hall Traditions

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• • • •

B L A K E N OVOSA D ‘ 1 9, A R C H D I O C E S E O F GA L V E STO N-H O U STO N

s seminarians living and studying far from our homes, the need to build relationships and to bond as a community is obvious. We are blessed here at the Pontifical North American College to have many opportunities to come together as a house to build fraternity and share the joy of each other’s company. While larger gatherings are indispensable to the community life

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here at the College, perhaps an equally important element is the relationships we form with brother seminarians living on our halls, with the men who are our neighbors in the most obvious sense. Fortunately, as with the larger seminary gatherings, there are ample times through the course of the year for the men on each hall to come together and share in the joys of our life here in Rome.

• • • •

During the normal course of the year, most hall gatherings happen spontaneously in the hall lounge, a place that gives everyone a place to get lost in conversation or a happy meeting that they did not plan to have.

The holidays provide the prime opportunity to get together as a hall as we come together as brothers to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas.

During Thanksgiving, arguably the most festive week of the year, we gather together in the morning with our hallmates for a grand breakfast.

Since cooking space is limited, most hall breakfasts are prepared in the hall lounge, which is hardly designed for sumptuous holiday banquets. Four to five hot plates are plugged in wherever there is an available outlet, with frying pans filled with bacon to the brim of most (maybe all), stacks of pancakes, mounds of eggs, biscuits and gravy, vats of coffee, and the roar of laughter and chatter drowning out the festive music playing in the background.

Then again, perhaps the overcrowded lounges are just the right fit.

At Christmas time, we come together to decorate each of our halls for the annual Christmas decorating contest.

A small contingent of faculty members and seminarians stand in solemn judgment over our sometimes laudable and sometimes comical efforts. Over the years, this competition has evolved from simple decorations to massive productions in their attempts to take the official first prize certificate.

During the normal course of the year, most hall gatherings happen spontaneously in the hall lounge, a place that gives everyone a place to get lost in conversation or a happy meeting that they did not plan to have.

The hall lounge provides a place for seminarians to gather together to share a meal, to play games, to watch

movies, or to simply chat. We were blessed to have several of our hall lounges renovated last year to compensate for the unavoidable wear and tear accumulated by any place that is truly lived in.

From the groggy hello shared between coffee drinkers in the early hours of the morning to the weekly hall gatherings in which seminarians come together to pray and share graced moments from their week, the hall lounge is an essential meeting ground of life and community. With a new academic year beginning and a new class of seminarians joining us here in Rome, the halls of this seminary have come to life again as we catch up with old friends, make introductions to new ones, and, above all, share the joy of preparing to work in the vineyards of the Lord. n

Every year halls participate in a friendly Christmas decorating contest to see which hall has the most festivity and creativity.

One tradition for the Fourth Convent hall is conversation with fresh coffee every morning.

Rome in your in-box! Sign up to receive our free monthly e-newsletter, “Firmum Est.â€? News, photos, student profiles, and historical snapshots. bit.ly/PNACnews ROMAN ECHOES 2018 • VOLUME 22: ISSUE 2

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Casa Santa Maria: The Legacy of the Red Room MSGR. FERDINANDO BERARDI, C’82, SUPERIOR OF THE CASA SANTA MARIA, ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK

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ithin the Casa Santa Maria, the motherhouse of the North American College, also affectionately called the “House on Humility Street,” you will find a little room with a grandiose name: “il Salone Rosso,” the “Red Room.” According to the oral tradition of the College, the room was given this name not because of its décor but because in this room American prelates awaited the official Papal proclamation of becoming cardinals and received the congratulations and well-wishes of those gathered with them. Soon they would be clad in the distinctive scarlet robes of their office, indicating that they were ready to give the supreme witness for the Faith, and a reminder of their abiding allegiance to the successor of St. Peter, who shed his blood for Christ. And so, the story goes, comes the name: the Red Room.

An intriguing tradition!

A closer investigation of the appointments in the room, however, brings up some doubts. A portrait of the first American cardinal, John McCloskey, Archbishop of New York, hangs there but he was not an alumnus of the College and he received his red hat at home in New York. A second portrait is of Henry Joseph Richter, first Bishop of Grand Rapids, an alumnus but never a cardinal. Between the portraits there stands a bust of James

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witness and sacrifices on behalf of the faith, in union with Peter’s successor, is the most important aspect of the Christian’s life.

The "Red Room" of the Casa Santa Maria today.

Gibbons, the second American cardinal, champion of the rights of labor, but also not an alumnus of the College.

No written record exists of his awaiting in this room for the Papal proclamation.

So, the ancient Roman adage might apply to the handed-on tradition of this room: “Se non è vero è ben trovato” (If it is not true, it is well founded).

While today the Red Room serves as a place to host receptions, especially after a doctoral defense, the space still reminds priests and visitors that their defense of the faith and their personal

Another interesting fact about the Red Room is the fresco found on the fireplace opposite the portraits. In the early 1980’s, when I lived here as a student, that fresco was not visible since at some point it had been painted over with Lucite latex. That started to peel, however, at a time when a priest with artistic talent, Fr. Anthony Brankin (C’83, Chicago), was in residence.

Fr. Brankin realized that there was something behind the modern beige paint and he went to work restoring, eventually uncovering an American shield and eagle. Since he finished his studies and returned home, he was not able to complete the work and what we now see was professionally restored.

I recently sent him a photograph of the painting and he remarked on the beauty of the restored painting but wondered what happened to the American eagle (which is not in this finished restoration). He surmises that there must have been a second layer over the original.

An intriguing story and tradition associated with this room. Who knows what other hidden memories may be uncovered from this room in the future? n

The “Father Carola Seminar” R E V. M R . LO U I S M A S I ’ 1 8, A R C H D I O C E S E O F N E W YO R K

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n 2005, Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI reminded the world that the teachings of the Second Vatican Council must always be interpreted according to a “hermeneutic of renewal in the continuity of the Church.” In order to see true continuity, one must first have a firm grasp of the entire tradition.

For the past 18 years, Fr. Joseph Carola, S.J. has offered Third Year seminarians at the Gregorian University the opportunity to participate in a year-long seminar entitled “A Patristic Synthesis of Theology.” The purpose of the seminar is to appreciate how major dogmatic themes have been understood consistently throughout the Church’s venerable history through a close reading of the Fathers of the Church, St. Thomas, 19th and 20th century patristic revival theologians, and texts from all of the Church’s ecumenical councils.

The seminar is well known for its academic rigor and the seriousness with which its members engage the assigned readings. Fr. Carola often underscores that the seminar’s weekly meeting simply brings to a climax the many hours of reading, pondering, and conversing that occur in the days leading up to the seminar. Such fruitful dialogue occurs in class precisely because members of the seminar spend the days leading up to the meeting debating issues while walking to school, enjoying cups of coffee at the Greg Cafè, and sitting at meals at the College.

In this way, the seminar achieves the goal of making thoughtful theological inquiry part of the daily life of the

seminarian-theologian. While the effort necessary for the seminar to bear its choicest fruits may seem burdesome to some, students who elect to participate find great intellectual satisfaction in engaging complex theological issues and coming to a deeper understanding of how the teachings of the Church up to the present day form a continuous, unbroken tradition. The seminar also helps to ensure that the study of theology is not simply the passive reception of lecture material, but the critical engagement of theological sources with the intention of coming to a more profound understanding of the teachings of Christ as they have been passed down throughout the Church’s history.

What makes the patristic seminar truly unique is the emphasis Fr. Carola places on the connection between the intellectual life, prayer (particularly liturgical prayer), and fraternity.

Throughout the year, the members of the seminar gather together for the celebration of Mass; for, as Fr. Carola sees it, love for the truth as the fruit of zealous study must have its root in an encounter with the Lord through the beauty of the Church’s Sacred Liturgy.

Furthermore, Fr. Carola seeks to build fraternity among members of the seminar through shared meals and trips because truth is best sought after among those who are good friends.

The patristic seminar at the Gregorian has become a venerable tradition for Third Year seminarians—a tradition that includes some the best aspects of what our time in Rome offers: zealous study of the Catholic faith, prayer at some of the most historically significant sites in and around Rome, and growth in friendship with students from around the globe founded on a love for and a pursuit of the truth. n

Members of the Fr. Carola seminar enjoy a class pilgrimage.

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HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGE

Outside Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which houses both Mt. Calvary and the tomb of Jesus' burial and resurrection. inset NAC Seminarians wade in the Jordan River at the site where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.

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Following in the Way of the Lord

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T H O M A S S C H E R E R ’ 1 9, A R C H D I O C E S E O F D E N V E R n echo. The word reverberates as if being spoken again and again. Every Christmas, when we celebrate again The Word’s entrance into this world, the College offers seminarians an opportunity to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This year, thirty-four seminarians and two priests spent two weeks in Israel - one in Galilee, where Jesus did most of his ministry, and the other in Jerusalem.

We were able to pray in Capernaum and on Calvary, atop the Mount of the Transfiguration and in the depths of the pit where Christ was imprisoned the night before he died. It was not just a chance to see the sights, but to see into the Scriptures with new eyes.

It would seem that having Mass where Christ multiplied the loaves and fishes or praying where he prayed in Gethsemane would help facilitate imaginative prayer. What surprised me, however, was that it was just the opposite. Instead of imagining myself in the stories, Jesus revealed when they happened in my own story.

An echo. Walking along the Sea of Galilee, praying about the calling of the Apostles, I could not imagine Christ calling to Peter, Andrew, James, and John. No, Christ’s call echoed across

chained in the darkness. Instead, Christ’s prayers there echoed across the ages, shedding light on experiences of suffering and loneliness in my past, revealing where he was in those times.

Seminarians from the College make the Stations of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, following the path of Jesus to Mount Calvary.

the ages and he was calling me, recalling how he first gave me the desire to be a priest, and in that moment deepening that desire.

An echo. Atop the Mount of the Beatitudes, Christ was preaching his sermon to me, calling me onward to live more radically, love more generously, convicting me where I fall short, but confirming my hope. Atop the Mount of the Transfiguration, Christ made vivid how he, transfigured, has transformed my life, filling me with gratitude for the past and hope for the future.

An echo. Praying in the pit where he was imprisoned, I didn’t imagine him

An echo. Kneeling at the foot of the Cross in the quiet hours of the morning, hearing Jesus say “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” Cut to the quick, I saw clearly the senselessness of my sins, but receiving the love he poured out in abundance, I was raised up.

An echo. The resounding silence of the empty tomb. What is there to say?

What can really be said? Yet the joy of Easter morning echoed across the ages, filling my heart to overflowing.

In an echo, the word is only spoken once and gently fades away. The Son, the Word of the Father, however, is spoken from all eternity, but pulses, calling out to us again and again.

Praying where he was, I expected to be drawn back to when he first entered into time; I was surprised, however, by how he jumped forward, calling to me in the here-and-now.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; the Word can only come to meet us in the present moment. n

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Snapshots

NAC priests and seminarians celebrate All Souls Day at Campo Verano, site of the NAC’s mausoleum in Rome.

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Denis Nakkeeran ’20 (Boston) and Stephen Buting ’19 (Milwaukee), prepare to serve guests at the annual Immaculate Conception banquet.

Max Carson ’20 (Des Moines), gives a haircut to Vice Rector Fr. Adam Park ’05 (Washington), in the new NAC barber shop called ‘Barberconi’.

Ambassador Callista Gingrich and husband Speaker Newt Gingrich pose with Des Moines seminarians Max Carson ’20 (right), and Reed Flood ’21 (center), who holds a butter cow which he carved; a NAC Midwest Thanksgiving tradition.

Msgr. Ferdinando Berardi, the superior of the Casa Santa Maria, poses with the NAC’s Dominican sisters who teach and help run the library.

The Pontifical North American College

Fr. Austin Vetter '93 (Bismarck) leads a prayer for the New and Old Men before the annual Thanksgiving Spaghetti Bowl football game.

From left: Michael Berndt ’20 (Springfield in Illinois) and Clayton Forner ’20 (St. Paul and Minneapolis), act out a skit as the emcees for the NAC’s annual Octoberfest party.

From front left: Michael Buck ’19 (Sydney), Dcn. Jeff Hebert ’18 (Little Rock), Chan Lee ’19 (Newark), Brandon Guenther ’19 (La Crosse), Dcn. Matt Meagher ’18 (Sydney), and Adi Indra ’20 (Sandhurst) at the Immaculate Conception banquet.

New Men Reed Flood ’21 (Des Moines), and James Linkenheld ’21 (Rockford), dress up as pirates for the NAC’s annual Thanksgiving ‘Turkey Trot’ 5k run around the Vatican.

The new Fifth Year Priests at the NAC give a first blessing to the community in the Immaculate Conception Chapel.

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The Tradition of Basilicas A N T H O N Y C A R O N A ’ 2 1 , A R C H D I O C E S E O F GA L V E STO N-H O U STO N

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s a child, more than anything I wanted to be an architect.

My parents fostered this interest by giving me detailed books on the world’s greatest buildings. With descriptions and photos ranging from America’s most iconic skyscrapers to the East’s ancient temples, I found that I was always most captivated by the world’s great churches. There was an innate appeal to these structures that reached up towards heaven and had no other purpose than to give glory to God. Years later, the dream of being an architect has passed, but my appreciation for sacred art and architecture has grown into a project begun four years ago: to visit, photograph, and compile historical information on the world’s most significant Catholic churches, specifically as many of the world’s roughly 1,760 basilicas as possible.

So far, I have visited 190 basilicas, including all 24 in Canada, all but five of the 84 basilicas in the United States, and many others in Italy.

While the term basilica, like cathedral, is often used incorrectly to denote any large or important church, in reality it refers to a church specifically designated as such by the pope on account of its dignity, historical significance, or importance as a center of worship.

There is some confusion, because in ancient Greece and Rome the term originally referred to a long,

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The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Atlanta, GA, one of many basilicas worldwide visited by New Man Anthony Carona.

rectangular-shaped hall in which a king or local ruler would hold court.

Early Christians began to model their churches after these pagan basilicas and hence the term also signifies more generically this architectural style—a church with a central nave and terminal apse, where the Christian altar would take the place of honor once given to earthly rulers.

In time, however, the term basilica came to be an honorific title granted by the Holy Father to significant churches regardless of architectural style. Much like that of monsignor for priests, the term “basilica” is meant to convey a certain relationship between

the basilica itself and the Diocese of Rome, and gives it precedence among other churches. Basilicas also have been granted other privileges outlined most recently by the 1989 Vatican decree Domus Ecclesiae. Basilicas may bear the papal coat of arms on their exterior and be represented in processions with two special objects: the tintinnabulum, a small bell mounted on a pole, and the ombrellino, a red and yellow umbrella made of silk or similar material, both of which are symbols of the papacy. Additionally, the pontiff has enriched the act of devoutly visiting a basilica on certain feast days with indulgences, as well as attaching to each basilica an additional plenary indulgence on one day a year, left to the discretion of the faithful who visit.

The great basilicas scattered throughout the world tell a living story of the Church’s tradition.

We know that “God does not dwell in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48), in the sense that no space, however majestic, could ever contain Him. But the Church’s continual striving, even in the poorest parts of the world, to create beautiful and dignified temples is a testimony to our belief in the Eucharistic presence, where God chooses to dwell among us and make His presence felt in places specifically consecrated for that purpose. In this way, we are edified and drawn in to a sacred space that foreshadows the beauty and splendor of heaven. n

Creative Corner Priestly formation has long inspired poetry, from St. Augustine to St. John of the Cross to Gerard Manley Hopkins.

The NAC, too, has its own tradition of aspiring poets.

This issue's Creative Corner offers a sampling from different times and places.

Advent Sonnet

© iStockphoto

Awake, awake! The time at las t is here Rise from thy bed and hearken to the sound Not of the trumpet which the wicked fear But Adventide which makes an other round Though difference here might soon For add His birth, then listen to be over-stressed the And faithful with the ears of fai three th are blest To hear that faint though perfec t harmony As major falls to minor by the middle So final sound is chosen here and now Since on my own I know I can do little I turn to Him before whom all will bow Oh come Divine Composer of my soul, Sing music to my heart and ma ke me whole.

-Luke Wilgenbusch ’19, Diocese of Nashville

Gracias Virgen María r Que tus hijos sepamos reconoce . tu pureza, amor y obediencia Eres bendita entre toda mujer, cia. hallando gracia en la Providen El ángel de Dios te comunicó que serías la Madre de Jesús; dijiste sí, la salvación comenzó, hasta consumarse en la cruz. a Dócil y dulce como una palom r; do ea acatabas la Voluntad del Cr jo sujetando tu vida a la de tu Hi . lor do participando de su dicha y

Así quiso que fuera yo tu hijo or; cuando en dulce arrebato de am to un Dios hombre selló testamen . lor do con su sangre, su vida y iendo Desde entonces a ti me encom so; oh, Dulce madre del Dios amoro o: como un niño te pido sonriend ioso. ord me enamores de Cristo Miseric Gracias Virgen María porque en la invitación del Padre has dado tu fiat, para ser de su Hijo, Madre; re salvaría. la Madre de Cristo, que al homb

Gracias Virgen María -Gabriel Sánchez Navarro ’21, a rni porque en la invitación del Padre Diocese of Santa Rosa in Califo t, fia tu has dado para ser de su Hijo, Madre; re salvaría. la Madre de Cristo, que al homb Agradecidos estamos ahora por el fiat que pronunciaste; con Cristo eres corredentora y de la misericordia Madre.

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An Eparchy & Ordinariate: New Ecclesial Traditions at the NAC NATHANAEL ANDERSON ’20, ARCHDIOCESE OF WASHINGTON

This year, the College welcomed two seminarians with differing ecclesial heritages. One is part of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, and the other from the Maronite Church. Roman Echoes sat down with both of them to learn about their ecclesial roots and their journey to Rome.

The College is now home to Patrick McCain ’21 (Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter), and Michael Shami ’20 (Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon)

Patrick, why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about your background?

Born in rural south Georgia, I was raised in a Southern Baptist family. I would not describe my family as devout, but my grandmother made sure that my sister and I were always at church on Sundays, and I was baptized at seven. By the time I was in high school, I had discovered the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer and had begun occasionally attending services at a local parish. The liturgy, sacred music, and other aspects of the Anglican patrimony nourished my Christian faith, so by college, I joined the Episcopal Church. I soon identified as an Anglo-Catholic; my spirituality emphasized the Catholic heritage of Anglicanism.

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I entered into full communion with the Catholic Church at Easter 2008. I graduated from college the same year and moved to Florida where I was employed in social work for a few years. From 2014-2016, I was a seminarian for the Diocese of St. Augustine. In 2016, I transferred to the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter and took a pastoral year. It was a joy and privilege to serve four Ordinariate parishes in Florida and Maryland. I am thrilled to complete priestly formation at the NAC.

Hello, Michael! Tell us a little about yourself.

My family comes from Aleppo in northern Syria but I was born, raised, and lived in the New York City area. After graduating from New York University, I entered the Maronite seminary in Washington, DC. My theological studies have taken me to Los Angeles, and now to Rome where I study for the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles.

The Maronites of Aleppo have been known for centuries as preservers of tradition. You know the story of Aladdin in One Thousand and One Nights? You’re welcome. But in all seriousness, the Maronites of Aleppo are known for preserving manuscripts, as well as ancient liturgical traditions, and even in the current persecution remain a bastion of the faith.

I studied Syriac language and liturgy under the instruction of Bishop Stephen Doueihi, the now deceased Maronite bishop of Brooklyn, NY, and perhaps the greatest Maronite liturgist in the last eighty years.

Patrick, what in particular most persuaded you to enter the Catholic Church?

In a word, truth. The Catholic and apostolic faith is true. Anglicanism has long been beset by discord and various factions, but has historically strived for the via media—the “middle way.” When I was an Anglican, I learned that the via media meant that unity of worship is more important than unity of belief. But how can we separate orthopraxy from orthodoxy? And who has the authority to say what is orthodox? Truth and the question of authority helped lead me to communion with the See of Peter. Now that I am part of the Ordinariate I have, in some ways,

the best of both worlds: I am a Roman Catholic, but I am able to retain those elements of the Anglican patrimony which do not oppose the Faith.

Are there any Maronite Churches in Rome? How are you going to continue to draw on your own liturgical tradition while in seminary?

What do you love most about the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite?

Yes, there are actually a few Maronite churches or communities in Rome. I also continue to pray our distinct offices and read the treatises and homilies of the Syriac Church Fathers. I also frequently chant hymn verses, practice memorization of psalms, and say other traditional prayers like the qawmo. And I’m always happy to share my tradition and pray with others, so if you ever hear chanting emanating from my room, come on in and join me even if you can’t read Aramaic.

I love that we sing every verse of every hymn. Really, I do!

I appreciate the use of majestic language that balances God’s transcendence and immanence. I especially love the ancient English prayers, among them the Collect for Purity. I am thankful that the liturgy allows our parishes to maintain their customary practices for the celebration of Mass and reception of Holy Communion.

Michael, if you had to tell a Latin Rite Catholic three things about what it means to be a Maronite, what would you say?

I would say three qualities that define being Maronite are (1) a Syriac identity, (2) a Catholic identity, and (3) being inextricably communal.

The geographic locality where the Syriac Church developed is inseparable from its identity. It is deeply seen in our liturgical identity in our direct inheritances from the previously Jewish Syria, as well as our particular love for the martyrs since they have never been scarce in Syria.

Our very theology and worldview is colored by our history in that we invoke an eschatological aspect in everything we do.

Catholic is not included in the Maronite Church’s title because it is intrinsically so. The Middle East, as a crossroad of the world, has been subject to many conflicts of great powers, ecclesial struggles not excluded. But Maronites have remained Catholic and unified throughout the centuries. The love of God demands unity.

Lastly, like the majority of the Eastern Churches, there is a strong emphasis on the corporate nature of the Church.

Even today, most major Maronite urban areas of the Middle East are built around a church or monastery. The entire life of the Maronite is sanctified by the presence of the Church—even leisure. Sunday Mass is habitually followed by a coffee hour, perhaps a church luncheon. Hospitality has always been a large part of the culture.

And you, Patrick? How are you going to stay rooted while here in Rome in the Mass that you would be celebrating as a priest?

It is a blessing to have two priests at the College who are learning how to say Mass according to our missal.

Hopefully, I will have access to this form of the Mass a couple of times monthly (and perhaps on particular Ordinariate feasts!). I also have access to our Divine Office, which I pray often.

How does priestly celibacy work in each of your traditions?

Patrick: Celibacy is the norm. However, most of our priests are married because they were formerly Protestant ministers who received from Rome dispensations from the requirement of celibacy. We have a few celibate priests, and six celibate seminarians. We have around 16 married men (who were formerly Protestant ministers) in formation for the priesthood. Celibate men in formation will not be able to marry before ordination.

Michael: Clergy, before they make a promise of celibacy at diaconate, are permitted to marry following apostolic custom. Only recently in the United States was it allowed for men to be ordained after having been married. Pope Francis made a large ecumenical gesture by eliminating an unfair decree banning the practice. n

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Keeping Record: The Role of the House Chronicler K E V I N C H A L I FO U X ’ 1 9, D I O C E S E O F B U R L I N GTO N

“H

ouse Chronicler” certainly does have a charmingly medieval ring to it, and I am honored to bear the title, but it tends to raise eyebrows too. For the first few weeks after the house job assignments were posted, I endured the occasional visitors who jokingly wanted to let me know what kind of cereal they enjoyed that morning or to share their thoughts on the current level of precipitation in the city.

Yet, far more common are the questions, continuing today, which try and solve the puzzle of what precisely it is that I do.

In simplest terms, I keep a journal of the daily life here at the Pontifical North American College for no one to read. Why? Because it is an essentially human thing to do, keeping a record of what happens, just because it is good. The recordings I make are not to be distributed or read, but rather to go to the archives, allowed to season, and just maybe dusted off and looked at again in a few decades.

Should you see me pull out a small notebook from my pocket at various times throughout the day, I am taking rough notes to be added to the official Chronicles each Friday afternoon, next to a steaming mug of tea. There may be official seminary records of

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the guests that have visited, but who can tell us what the visiting prelate preached about or whether he granted us a “Free Night” in the lounge?

Should one be tempted to think that life might grow a little dull in a house where alarms start sounding their terrible alerts at five in the morning and where everyone wears the same black outfit, the House Chronicles provide a glimpse into the vibrant place that we call home for four years.

The score of the Spaghetti Bowl is there. Noteworthy announcements posted on the Main Bulletin Board are there, too, along with the theological debate that swept through the breakfast and lunch tables during a given week.

The motets that the choir sang for a certain feast day, notes on the Rector’s conference, the toasts given at our banquets— all are there, together with notes on the homily at morning Mass, for better or for worse.

makes for a dynamic house, keeping my notebook full of scribbled reminders and a thirty-page document I look forward to printing and binding at the end of the year. The talents and passions of my brother seminarians makes my house job a delight.

What appears in the Chronicles (since you will never read them) is a clear testament to the fact that, no matter how meager or shoddy they may seem to us, our strivings for holiness in preparation for the priesthood create a dazzling display of God’s grace working through all-too-human instruments, leaving no dull moments and plenty for which we should be grateful. n

What you will search for in vain would be my own opinion; this is no project in creative writing, but rather a living record from a student perspective of what takes place on the Janiculum Hill in the shadow of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Perhaps what has surprised me most over the past few months is the fact that there is never the need to go searching for material. There are all kinds of animals in this ark and that

Kevin Chalifoux ’19 (Burlington) serves as House Chronicler.

World Day of the Poor: A New Tradition SA M U E L BA S S ’ 2 1 , D I O C E S E O F AU ST I N

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his past November, the North American College helped celebrate the first annual “World Day of the Poor,” instituted by Pope Francis. Dozens of seminarians used their monthly “free weekend” to welcome the poor of Rome, joining with volunteers from the Order of Malta and some religious communities, for a beautifully prepared pranzo, and several hours of fellowship in the College refectory, which was filled to capacity. It was a joyful afternoon, in which we offered hospitality and served a warm meal. It was a privilege to welcome so many brothers and sisters, some of whom do not have a home, into our own home, and so to share the blessings we have received.

In doing so, in a small way, we were answering the Holy Father’s call that, “Christian communities…make every effort to create moments of encounter and friendship, solidarity and concrete assistance.”

I was personally blessed by participating in this effort, and especially by these moments of “encounter and friendship.” In greeting our guests and directing them to their tables, I was able to meet many people I would not otherwise have known. Our guests come from places as diverse as the Ukraine, Africa, and Ecuador, and their lives in Rome look very different from our own. Yet on this day they came together with us to share a common table. Most had come from Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, where they were able to hear first-hand these

Fr. Kerry Abbott, O.F.M. Conv. ICTE '14, greets guests during the World Day of the Poor

words of the Holy Father: “In the poor, we find the presence of Jesus, who though rich, became poor…If in the eyes of the world they are of little value, they are the ones who open to us the way to heaven; they are our ‘passport to paradise.’”

Pope Francis has given us a beautiful new tradition in instituting the “World Day of the Poor.” And he shows us that it is we who give life to traditions, by our concrete actions in whatever community or family in which we find ourselves. Even more important than the food or material support we are able to provide, is how we reach out and welcome as brothers and sisters those we often pass by. One image from the afternoon that remains in my mind is the face of a mother following

Placecards welcome guests.

her young daughter, who was racing gleefully down one of our corridors.

I am happy that this young girl felt at home in our home. And I was reminded of the words of the Holy Father: “The poor are not a problem: they are a resource from which we draw as we strive to accept and practice in our lives the essence of the gospel.” n

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Academic Spotlight: First-Year Essays For many years, New Men attending the Pontifical Gregorian University have been able to take their required first-year seminar class in-house at the North American College. In many ways, this seminar is a successor to the “Repetition” so well known to seminarians of the 1950s and 1960s, when classes taught in Latin in the morning at the university were re-taught in English in the afternoon back at the College.

Academic Dean Fr. John Cush ’98, C’15, recently asked his seminar class to reflect on the concept of Sacred Tradition.

We asked them to share a sampling of their insights:

Matthew Duclos, ’21, Diocese of Albany I believe that within the context of tradition, we can make a comparison of Jesus as a father figure to our own biological fathers. It can be said that the role of a father is to raise and teach his children. When children are first born, they are obviously unable to read, speak, or write, and their skills of communication are quite limited. They first learn through imitation by watching their first teachers: their mother and father. Yves Congar articulates this point: “We do not bring a child up by giving him lectures in morality and deportment, but by placing him in an environment having a high tone of conduct and good manners….” The early Church can be seen as a young child through the eyes of tradition. Jesus, as the father, teaches his apostles and followers by living what he wants to teach. As the greatest teacher, a mere lecture or written document would limit the nature of what should be taught, especially when it comes to virtue…. Jesus taught the young Church just as our own fathers taught us as young children: through example. The example of Jesus became the basis of the New Testament, just as the example of our fathers and mothers became the basis of our moral foundation.

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Curtis Weisenburger, ’21, Diocese of Toledo Scripture and Tradition are both complete and what is in Scripture can be found in Tradition and what is in Tradition can be found in Scripture. I think it is right and just that God has providentially planned it to be this way, but it didn’t necessarily need to be this way…. God has provided in this way that the two of them can be used to “check” each other. Scripture needs Tradition for interpretation, preservation, detailed application, and much more, and Tradition needs Scripture as a source of certainty that the teachings and customs are genuine and true, and that anything contrary to Scripture is contrary to Christ. Scripture is in some sense much harder to erase, forget, or sideline, whereas Tradition or traditions can be forgotten or suppressed or not expressed. Without both the wings of Tradition and Scripture…the true teaching of the Church cannot take flight or stay on course.

Stephen Yusko, ’21, Diocese of Albany The Apostles cherished and lived by what Christ “transmitted” to them. They “handed on,” carrying out the edict of Christ, all that they witnessed in Christ, to others, by means of baptism. In essence, the Apostles, and those Christians and Saints who followed them “lived” tradition. They didn’t view tradition as something subjective, irrelevant, distant, and restrictive. Rather, they saw its truth, its goodness, and its beauty. They perceived it as the blood that gives life to the Church which binds every generation to one another. Essentially, through tradition, they clearly saw the face of Christ.

It is this “lived” tradition that I believe needs to be recaptured today…. I believe that when we begin to understand tradition correctly, and live it, we will perceive that tradition, in a certain sense, is an encounter with the eternal.

Grandma's Echoes: A Family Tradition M A X W E L L C A R S O N ’ 2 0, D I O C E S E O F D E S M O I N E S

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amily, Friends, and Cheeseburgers”: This was the title of a Roman Echoes article a number of years ago in which a North American College seminarian lamented living without these three American aspects of his life. Long before coming to Rome, I read this article as a young minor seminarian, and the thought of being stripped of these three great gifts was not a concern for me because I was convinced that I would never end up at the North American College for theological studies. I simply thought to myself, “Poor guy. I’m glad I’ll never have to go through that.” Little did I know God’s Providence was taking place!

Roman Echoes and its predecessor magazine were always given to me by my grandmother, Rose Pigneri. Since I was a kid, my grandmother would always ask me, “Do you want to be a priest when you grow up?” My response was always the same: “NO!” This “no” was never strong enough for her to believe me, though. Her prayers and eventually this seminary magazine were her ways of keeping the idea of the priesthood alive in my mind. I would see the various issues of Roman Echoes lying around my grandparents’ house, and to me, it was just part of the pile of religious magazines that they received. When I entered minor seminary, she started to mail it to me, either at the seminary in Minnesota, or at my house when I was home on breaks. Frankly, I

Maxwell Carson ’20 (Des Moines), poses with some old issues of the Roman Echoes his grandmother frequently read.

still considered Roman Echoes to be nothing more than a piece of religious writing that I found to be somewhat irrelevant to my life; I told myself that I would never be sent to such a distant seminary.

Nevertheless, Roman Echoes kept coming my way, and though I never took the time to actually open the magazine and read an article, I began to recognize some of the seminarians on the front cover. Two years had elapsed in minor seminary, and as my year of transition to major seminary approached, I suddenly realized that studying at the North American College was, in fact, a possibility for me. This realization brought me to actually open the magazine and read something in it for the first time.

There it was: “Family, Friends, and Cheeseburgers.” As God’s providence and humor would have it, that seminarian’s story would become mine! I do miss my family, friends, and even cheeseburgers, but I am amazed at what I have been given in return. I am also amazed of the way in which God has used the little newsletter that you are reading right now. Without doubt, Roman Echoes has had an impact on my life and on my vocation. It is an instrument through which God opened my mind to a priestly vocation and, later, enlivened the possibility of being sent to Rome. Now, after two years of seminary formation here, I can confidently say that I am extremely grateful for the experience. n

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Frank Parater:

A Saint for our College W I L L I A M N YC E ' 1 9, D I O C E S E O F A R L I N GTO N

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mong the patrons of our College, there is a young man whose heroic virtue has inspired many and whose prayer quietly echoes in our halls. The mausoleum of the North American College in Rome’s Campo Verano cemetery is the resting place of seminarian Frank Parater, whose cause for canonization opened in 2001.

Thus, he is honored with the title “Servant of God.” A native of Richmond, Virginia, Francis Joseph Parater Jr. was born on October 10, 1897 into a loving family whose charity was likely tried and refined by two deaths: his father’s first wife and his eldest step-brother. As an altar boy at Saint Patrick’s Parish from an early age, he was instilled with an evangelical zeal that extended to his membership in the recently established Boy Scouts of America. He expressed in his journal the hope that “[scouting] would make our Catholic boys better Catholics; it would teach the non-Catholic true Catholic principles of morality; it would produce better men, true patriots and real citizens.” As a scout master, he incorporated a half-hour of prayer—Scripture, an Our Father, and silent meditation—into the daily schedule at the summer camps.

Will Nyce ’19 (Arlington), poses with a portrait of Francis Parater in the NAC’s Randal Riede Library.

This heart for service to God and neighbor matured into a desire to become a priest. After graduating Benedictine High School, he entered Belmont Abbey College Seminary.

In November of 1919, Bishop Dennis J. O’Connell sent him to study at the Pontifical North American College.

Tragedy struck just three months later for his family and also for priests and his brother seminarians when Frank died of rheumatic fever at a hospital in Rome. Where was God’s justice in this life cut short? Where was His steadfast mercy for this docile servant?

Part of the answer would come the next day when fellow Richmond seminarian Francis Byrne discovered an envelope in Frank’s room labeled “to be opened only in case of my death.” Written just ten days after his arrival in Rome, when he was in perfect health, this “Act of Oblation to the

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Sacred Heart of Jesus” was made public by the Rector and would circulate both in Rome and abroad.

In fact, it was translated into Italian and printed by L’Osservatore Romano a few months later. Both Pope Benedict XV and his successor, Pius XI, requested to have copies of the prayer made. Just five months later, it would inspire the Virginia Mission Aid Society to take him as their patron. Today, it is included in the NAC “Manual of Prayers.”

Such a perfect act of self-oblation is the essence of the priesthood and the telos, or end, of the formation program at the North American College; indeed, all seminaries are purposed to purify and prepare men in their

self-offering after the model of Jesus, our High Priest, on the Cross. By God’s grace and in the mystery of His design, Frank Parater did just that as a first-year man at the age of 22. His is a life “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). May his memory inspire and his prayers intercede for seminarians, scouts, Virginians, and Christians who call upon him—those of us who also hope to welcome death as “a beautiful event…the messenger of God come to tell us that our novitiate is ended and to welcome us to the real life.”

Frank Parater, Servant of God: Pray for us.

A photo of young Francis Parater as a seminarian

Frank Parater’s “Act of Self-Oblation” “I have nothing to leave or give but my life, and this I have consecrated to the Sacred Heart to be used as He wills. I have offered my all for conversions to God of non-Catholics in Virginia. This is what I live for and, in case of death, what I die for.

Death is not unpleasant to me, but the most beautiful event of my life. Death is the messenger of God come to tell us that our novitiate is ended and to welcome us to the real life. Melancholic or morbid sentimentality is not the cause of my writing this, for I love life here, the College, the men, and Rome itself. But I have desired to die and to be buried with the saints. I dare not ask God to take me lest I should be ungrateful or be trying to shirk the higher responsibilities of life; but I shall never have less to answer for—perhaps never be better ready to meet my Maker, my God, my All. Since I was a child I have desired to die for love of God and for my fellow man. Whether or not I shall receive that favor I know not, but if I live, it is for the same purpose; every action of my life here is offered to God for the spread and success of the Catholic Church in Virginia. I have always desired to be only a little child, that I may enter the kingdom of God. In the general resurrection I wish to always be a boy and to be permitted to accompany Saints John Berchamans, Aloysius and Stanislaus as their servant and friend.

Do we serve God and man less worthily by our prayers in heaven than by our actions on earth? Surely it is not selfish to desire to be with Him Who has loved us so well. I shall not leave my dear ones. I will always be near them and be able to help them more than I can here below. I shall be of more service to my diocese in heaven than I could ever be on earth. If it is God’s holy will, I will join him on Good Friday, 1920, and never leave him more—but not my will, Father, but thine be done!”

-Rome, December 5, 1919

ROMAN ECHOES 2018 • VOLUME 22: ISSUE 2

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Institute for Continuing Theological Education

When in Rome, do as ICTE does: Traditions of Life in Casa O'Toole REV. JAMES SULLIVAN, O.P., DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR CONTINUING THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION

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he traditions of life that shape formation at the Pontifical North American College also shape the ongoing formation at the Institute for Continuing Theological Education. The essentials, of course, remain the same, such as fidelity to one’s vocation, fraternity among the brethren, and friendship as a gift from God. But ICTE adds a few more to the list: the secret exit out the back gate, classes with no assignments or homework, and a weekly Gaudeamus.

Concelebrating Mass at the Tomb of Saint Peter begins each session in the Spring and each module in the Fall.

Somehow a trip to Rome without a pilgrimage to the Tomb of Saint Peter does not make much sense but yet so many tourists do just that. For the priests who come to Rome for a sabbatical, saying Mass at the Tomb of the Prince of the Apostles remains the rock for their experience in Rome. And so, going down early in the morning out the “back gate” with one of the coveted keys becomes a privilege and a pleasure. The privilege is realizing how close we are to the Tomb of Saint Peter and the pleasure comes from knowing that so many NAC seminarians wanted over the years to possess one of these keys!

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The classes which comprise the ongoing formation of ICTE are truly the fruit of the years of experience of the Roman professors who offer them.

Every faculty has dedicated members but somehow a group of teachers who commit themselves to coming year after year says more about their love for the priesthood itself than anything else. The classes and tours from Fr. Scott Brodeur, S.J., Dr. Elizabeth Lev, Fr. Craig Morrission, O.Carm., Dr. Donna Orsuto, and Msgr. Robert Sarno, our longest serving faculty members, have helped to renew the vocations of hundreds of priests. With the humor of experience, spiritual insight, and assiduous study in their fields, all of the teachers for ICTE remind us of the true meaning of tradition which is simply to hand on to others what was first handed on to us.

Finally, there is the ICTE tradition of the Tuesday evening Gaudeamus.

Having the opportunity to recreate after Evening Prayer and before cena for just one night a week brings the sabbatical priests together in the midst of all of their other plans in Rome, such as visiting traveling family members and parishioners or just finding that recommended restaurant in Trastevere. The priests during their

Fr. Scott Brodeur, S.J., (center) accompanies the ICTE priests on a tour of the rooms of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga.

time in Rome come together naturally and joyfully. Our weekly Gaudeamus is the perfect time to share the bond of one’s vocation to the priesthood, enjoy the fraternity of the brethren, and to receive from the Lord the great gift of friendship which forms anew in every group of ICTE priests. Of course, the weekly Gaudeamus is also the perfect place for pecorino romano cheese, a Cuban cigar, and some limoncello, too!

When in Rome, do as ICTE does.

Then you will have the key to the “back gate,” classes with no assignments or homework, and a Tuesday night Gaudeamus to help you enjoy it all even more. n

2018 Honorees

Join us!

26 Annual Rector’s Dinner th

Mrs. Judy Barrett Owner, Chateau Montelena Winery Calistoga, CA

Most Reverend Joseph Augustine Di Noia Adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Thursday, April 12, 2018 Janiculum Campus, Rome Join benefactors, alumni, and friends of the Pontifical North American College for an evening in celebration of our mission and those who so generously support our work.

Purchase tickets, tables, Album acknowledgements at www.pnac.org/rectorsdinner Ticket and Album deadline: March 9, 2018 Interested in sponsoring a future issue of Roman Echoes? Contact our Executive Director, Mark Randall: 202-541-5411 or mrandall@pnac.org

Re-Echoes: Devotion to Our Lady of Humility In this excerpt from the 1958 edition of the Roman Echoes, we learn about the origins of one of the College’s most beloved traditions.

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f an American Catholic knows anything at all about the American College, he knows that it is the national seminary in Rome, to be found in years gone-by on Humility Street. There we now find the American College’s house, renamed fittingly the Casa di Santa Maria dell’Umilità; and in a spot overlooking St. Peter’s and the Vatican hill we see the new edifice of the North American College. Only recently moved to the Janiculum hill, the college has lived the greater part of its history on the Via dell’Umilità—not a grand and impressive thoroughfare, but interesting insofar as it took its name from a shrine built thereon.

The shrine had been dedicated to Our Lady of Humility and its popularity was well established before the college arrived on the scene, as is attested by the fact that the street derived its name from the shrine.

The college had not opened its portals too long when the devotion was adopted by the students and encouraged by the superiors until it became one of the chief traditions at Collegio Americano del Nord. And what an appropriate tradition it is!

For those studying to be priests, how necessary is the virtue of humility!

From whom could they learn it better than from our Blessed Lady

Images of Our Lady of Humility are given to New Men each year.

the afternoon of December 8, 1859, the Holy Father remarked that the American College would always produce good missionaries if it preserved a spirit of humility.

Earlier the same day, a venerable cardinal of the Church had, as it were, “scooped” His Holiness by urging the students to ground themselves in fear of God and knowledge. Quickly did he add, however, that if they wanted to bring about the triumph of truth in America to these qualities they must unite—in all humility—invocation of God’s aid.

And almost a century later on December 1, 1957, a newly-consecrated bishop addressed the student body, listed the ideals of the college, and ranked high among them devotion to Our Lady with special regard to her humility.

To say this devotion has received the encouragement from those in authority Pope Pius IX, Cardinal Barnabò, and would be an understatement. Speaking Bishop Freking expressed on these to the first North American students occasions their hope that the spirit of 32

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the North American student was, is, and would continue to be that of Mary’s Magnificat, ever acknowledging the power and the majesty of God, ever admitting his own lowliness—Humilitatem ancillae suae.

This is the reason, the “why” of Our Lady of Humility in the tradition of the North American College. We have but to look at that seminary in its foundation and location to realize that this tradition was no chance affair. The college was born on the street called “Humility,” in the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Humility, under a cardinal who prayed to this Madonna to prosper the new enterprise by her intercession, and under a supreme pontiff who exhorted the first (and through them, all) North American student to make humility the foundation of their priesthood.

Excerpt from: James J. McCann '60 (Boston), “Our Lady of Humility: After almost a century, the traditional devotion lives on,” Roman Echoes (1958), pp. 53-54. n

Economo’s Corner The Church in All Places and All Seasons R E V. K E R RY A B B OT T, O F M CO N V. , I C T E ' 1 4

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hen you read this article we will no doubt be looking forward to celebrating the glory of the Resurrection at Easter. Yet, as I write to you I am in the Diocese of Bismarck, ND a few days before Christmas, and on the evening following the ordination to the transitional diaconate of one of our North American College students, Rev. Mr. Dominic Bouck, by his bishop The Most Reverend David Dennis Kagan, D.D., P.A., J.C.L. I have to admit it is good to be back in the heartland again (I spent three years at Minot AFB, ND as the Catholic chaplain in the mid-1990’s), to experience the incredible hospitality of the people of the northern Midwest, and to marvel again at how they persevere and thrive in sub-zero temperatures! But while North Dakota is the locus of my story, it is not the focus.

Earlier today as the concelebrating priests were vesting in preparation for the Mass, a priest of the Diocese of Bismarck approached me to say hello and to share a story about the profound impact that his time on sabbatical at our own North American College Institute for Continuing Theological Education (ICTE) had not only on him, but on the parish flock he shepherds. He spoke with obvious fervor and gratitude, not

only for the opportunity to spend some mystical months in Rome, but primarily about the impact the slides from his journeys and lectures that he shared with his people had on them. His whole person was radiant with gratefulness as he marveled at how he was able to “bring back” to his people “an experience of the Universal Church,” as many would never have the opportunity to make the long journey to Rome. He wanted me to know of his joy and gratitude not only for his experiences, but primarily “for the blessings he was able to carry to his people, and for how I have seen them respond to those blessings.”

As we then turned to join the entrance procession for Mass, to celebrate the ordination of another “missionary of mercy” to God’s Holy Orders (this time in the northern Midwest, but every year this joy-filled moment is replicated throughout our countries) I was reminded of how what I had just experienced in listening to this good priest, was the incarnation of our College’s primary mission…to prepare men for the priesthood of Jesus Christ in service to His people, the Church.

I was and am most cognizant that while most of my ministry as the Vice Rector for Administration (Economo) takes place in Rome, the major impact of the staff I supervise, of our entire College faculty for that

matter, is realized in the home dioceses of the men entrusted to our care located in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

The Universal Church is just that, universal, and we know that one does not need to travel to Rome to experience the Universal Church, but being in Rome does provide unique perspectives and opportunities in proximity to the Successor of St. Peter and on the well-worn roads taken by so many saints. While the formation and education of our students at the College is not necessarily better than other seminaries, it is different, and it is that difference that can help to make concrete our appreciation of, and contribution to, the Universal Church and the building up of God’s Kingdom.

Rather than an appeal for your continuing prayers and monetary support for our mission (for which I am truly grateful), in these days of Natale and in this season of gift giving, I simply want to share with all of you this simple, unexpected story from the heartland: a reminder of how God uses the persons, places, and events of our lives to bless His people, and to prepare and offer priests to care for them through the proclamation of the Good News of the Gospel and the celebration of His grace-filled sacraments. Buon Natale, Felice Anno Nuovo e Buona Pasqua! n ROMAN ECHOES 2018 • VOLUME 22: ISSUE 2

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Institutional Advancement

The Catholic Philanthropic Tradition

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MARK RANDALL, CFRE • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR s this issue highlights, the North American College is steeped in tradition. In addition to the customs of our Faith and our own community, the College over the years has been blessed by a tradition of philanthropic support.

The idea of an American Catholic philanthropic tradition dates back to those first Jesuit missionaries who relied on the charity of others as they traveled among scattered communities in the New World. After the appointment of the first American bishop, John Carroll in 1790, organized giving to support the work of the Church took several years to develop. Bishop Carroll issued the first-ever national appeal in 1803, asking for donations to help built the first basilica in Baltimore.

Fast-forward fifty years…In 1854 Cardinal Wiseman of Westminster proposed the idea of a pontifical college in Rome for training American diocesan clergy, which won the approval of Pope Pius IX. While the Holy See provided a former convent to house the new College, the renovation and furnishings were to be paid for by the lay faithful back home. The American bishops made a national appeal, and on December 8, 1859, the College opened.

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Roughly one-hundred years later, when the College needed a larger home due to growth, faithful laity and alumni back in the US were again called upon to help fund the construction of a new campus. The present seminary opened on October 14, 1953. In 2005, when our current buildings needed major renovations, the College’s first-ever capital campaign raised an amazing $28 million from a diverse group of individuals, dioceses, and organizations.

More recent improvements like the new classroom tower, fitness center, and Casa Santa Maria renovations were all made possible by the extraordinary investment of some of our most generous friends. And finally, your annual support of things like the December 8th Annual Appeal and the Rector’s Dinner are further evidence of this tradition.

these amounts. Since we do not receive financial support from the Holy See, or receive funding from a national second collection, we continue today to rely on the American Catholic philanthropic tradition.

From our very founding, the mission of the North American College has been made possible by a tradition of financial support by those who see the importance of well-trained priests for the Church’s future. The bishops who send students to Rome pay room, board and tuition for each one. But like most educational institutions, the College has costs above and beyond

As Fr. Harman wrote in his column on page 5, “Traditions should move us to be grateful.” I often hear from benefactors how thankful they are for the work we do – forming priests of excellence.

And likewise, please know we are truly grateful for the support, investment, and partnership we receive. May you take great joy in knowing you are a treasured part of this community! n

Last year, Americans gave $120 billion to religious organizations. I am sure many did so for the tax benefits, or out of habit, or some sense of duty, or custom. But I also think traditions which are not meaningful anymore eventually fall by the wayside. From my interactions with our alumni and lay benefactors, I know that their tradition of giving is real, and sustained by seeing the fruits of their contributions. This support has impact and makes a difference to the men we serve, and frankly, for the future of the Church in the United States

Be sure to consider joining us for either of our exciting trips this year: a long weekend in Tuscany after the Rector’s Dinner, or our Adriatic Cruise following the Diaconate Ordinations this fall. Both offer an exceptional travel experience, spiritual renewal, and personal interaction with the College.

Please contact me with questions, or to reserve your spot today!

Join us in Rome!

The Pontifical North American College America's Seminary in Rome, Since 1859

We are pleased to offer two exciting trips for friends, benefactors, and alumni of the Pontifical North American College. The trips are designed to showcase the extraordinary mission of the College while also allowing guests to experience some of the finest religious and cultural sites in Italy and surrounding regions. I am honored to accompany you throughout the entire journey.

Whichever trip you choose, I am confident you will enjoy the sites, meet new friends, and receive the fruits of our pilgrimage. I look forward to seeing you in Rome!

- Very Rev. Peter Harman, Rector

Weekend in Tuscany

APRIL 12-17, 2018

Your trip begins at the College for the 26th annual Rector’s Dinner. You’ll join 450 other guests from the US and Italy at our flagship campus on the Janiculum Hill. The next day we will depart for Tuscany to enjoy a leisurely combination of prayer, visits to cultural and religious sites, and of course, extraordinary food and wine.

• 3 nights in a luxury villa • Cooking class, winery tour & tasting • Day trips to Siena and San Gimignano • Daily Mass and Rosary

**Registration deadline: March 1, 2018

Italy & Adriatic Cruise

SEPTEMBER 27-OCTOBER 6, 2018

This amazing adventure begins in St. Peter’s Basilica where you will witness the ordination of our fourth-year seminarians to the Diaconate. A grand celebration luncheon will follow at the Seminary campus. We then travel to Venice via high-speed train for an overnight stay and a fabulous dinner together. Our journey continues aboard the ultra-luxury Seabourn Odyssey cruise ship with stops in Croatia, Montenegro, the Bay of Kator, and the best of Greece’s western coast.

Just a few of the trip highlights: • 1 night luxury hotel stay in Venice, plus dinner • 7 nights in cabin suite with balcony

• 2 shore excursions with private guide • All complimentary beverages, dining, and butler service onboard • Daily Mass and spiritual reflections

**Registration deadline May 1, 2018

www.pnac.org/trips

For further information, please contact PNAC Executive Director, Mark Randall, 202-541-5403 or mrandall@pnac.org.

The Pontifical North American College Office of Institutional Advancement 3211 Fourth Street, NE Washington, D.C. 20017-1194 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED1

NON-PROFIT ORG. US. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 144 WALDORF, MD

For more information about the Pontifical North American College, subscription questions, or to learn about ways you can financially support “America’s Seminary in Rome,” please contact Mark Randall, CFRE, Executive Director, Institutional Advancement.

Tel: (202) 541-5411 Fax: (202) 722-8804 Email: pnacdc@pnac.org Website: www.pnac.org “Like” The Pontifical North American College on Facebook to keep up with the latest photos, news, and events from our campuses in Rome.

Following antique custom, the bells of the Immaculate Conception Chapel are given proper names. Below, Gabriel stands silent, awaiting repairs.

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The Pontifical North American College