Priesthood 101College seminary immerses men in formation from freshman year forward Posted: 11.03.09 MIAMI | They will come from all races, ethnicities and cultures. Teen boys and young men responding to the stirrings of a priestly vocation will converge upon St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami for its semiannual Vocation Awareness Weekend Nov. 13-15. “It’s a great opportunity for men to see what a college seminary is like,” said Father Gregg M. Caggianelli, vocations director for the Diocese of Venice. “We have four men there now. It’s a great place and they’re doing an amazing job. It’s a house filled with joy and to be there you can feel that tone. When you send a man there you feel good about it.” To learn more about St. John Vianney College Seminary, please go to www.sjvcs.edu. This year is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the seminary by Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll, first archbishop of Miami, whose stated purpose was to “obtain priests in great numbers and to be the training ground of our future priests.” “In this Year for Priests, St. John Vianney is the patron and model for parish priests, and it’s appropriate that the college seminary should be named for him and prepare our men like him,” Father Caggianelli continued. The seminary was staffed and directed by the Congregation of the Mission — Vincentian Fathers — until 1975, when the priests of the Archdiocese of Miami assumed direction. Originally designed as a six-year preparatory program — four years of high school and two years of junior college — the high school was discontinued in 1976 and in 1977 the junior college was enlarged to a full four-year college program. “Students graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and take all the usual subjects required of any four-year university undergraduate program,” explained Father Jose Alvarez, the vice rector and dean of students. “Priestly formation has many different stages. It’s a process and the men receive the basic foundation for priesthood here: human, pastoral, spiritual and academic formation before they go off to major seminary.” The seminary grew through the magnanimous generosity of many, adding facilities such as the library, chapel and technology as needs arose. “I’m blessed to have an incredible team, tremendous examples of holy good men, living their priesthood with intensity and joy and sharing that passion with us,” shared Daniel Fioramonti, a senior in his third year of formation from St. Rita Parish in Wellington. “I’ve been very happy since I entered here. We’re here to have an encounter with Jesus Christ and to have a relationship with him and to become more aware of the reality that the Church is our home. It’s a journey of freedom, of discovering the truth about yourself, that you’re loved and called to be vehicles communicating that love to others. It’s the only way to authentically live your life.” Since 1975, the seminary has offered a bilingual and multicultural program. With Msgr. Michael G. Carruthers at the helm as rector and president since 2005, student enrollment for the 2009-10 year includes 73 men from 22 countries, ranging in age from 18 to 41-plus. “The seminary has a very good relationship with all the vocations directors,” said Father Yves Fran_ois, vocations director for the Diocese of Palm Beach. “We rely on them to prepare the men. They live with them, teach them, form them spiritually, intellectually, in every way. They lead not just by word, but by example. We are truly blessed to have the seminary. Because they do so much, it allows me to be out seeking vocations.” Father Alvarez, an alumnus of the seminary, concluded, “I love the place and feel very much at home here. It’s a great privilege to be entrusted with the responsibility of forming future priests.”
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