(Vatican Radio ) Blessed Paul VI, Giovanni Battista Montini was elected as Successor of Peter on the 21st June 1963. Gone down in history as the Pope who inherited a council some say he would never have called, he was not always fully understood. In fact this first pilgrim pope was described at the time as a man full of contradictions, bafflling yet brilliant, austere yet personable, enigmatic yet firm in his authority.Join Veronica Scarisbrick as she steps back in time to bring you the testimonies of some of those who lived through that era and personally knew Paul VI, as well as Vatican Radio archive sound...A programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:
(Vatican Radio ) Blessed Paul VI, Giovanni Battista Montini was elected as Successor of Peter on the 21st June 1963. Gone down in history as the Pope who inherited a council some say he would never have called, he was not always fully understood. In fact this first pilgrim pope was described at the time as a man full of contradictions, bafflling yet brilliant, austere yet personable, enigmatic yet firm in his authority.
Join Veronica Scarisbrick as she steps back in time to bring you the testimonies of some of those who lived through that era and personally knew Paul VI, as well as Vatican Radio archive sound...
A programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has welcomed the announcement of a unilateral cessation of hostilities by the President of Sudan, Omar al- Bashir, in the Blue Nile and the South Kordofan States for a period of 4 months, starting from Saturday 18 June 2016.“The Chairperson welcomes this development and believes that, against the backdrop of a similar gesture made by the armed opposition group for a cessation of hostilities for a period of six months, in April 2016, this truce, if respected by both sides, will not only ease the suffering of the populations in the conflict areas but will also create a conducive environment for advancing the peace process in Sudan,” an AU press release read.The AU Chairperson has since appealed to rebel movements in the Two Areas and Darfur to take this opportunity to join the Roadmap process facilitated by the AU.The Chairperson further reiterated the continued support of the African Union to Sud...
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has welcomed the announcement of a unilateral cessation of hostilities by the President of Sudan, Omar al- Bashir, in the Blue Nile and the South Kordofan States for a period of 4 months, starting from Saturday 18 June 2016.
“The Chairperson welcomes this development and believes that, against the backdrop of a similar gesture made by the armed opposition group for a cessation of hostilities for a period of six months, in April 2016, this truce, if respected by both sides, will not only ease the suffering of the populations in the conflict areas but will also create a conducive environment for advancing the peace process in Sudan,” an AU press release read.
The AU Chairperson has since appealed to rebel movements in the Two Areas and Darfur to take this opportunity to join the Roadmap process facilitated by the AU.
The Chairperson further reiterated the continued support of the African Union to Sudanese stakeholders and expressed hope that the various Sudan peace processes would be successfully brought to a close sooner than later.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Blake Lively is expecting her second child with husband Ryan Reynolds, but the 28-year-old actress says the couple is far from finished making babies....
NEW YORK (AP) -- Blake Lively is expecting her second child with husband Ryan Reynolds, but the 28-year-old actress says the couple is far from finished making babies....
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Boeing Co. said Tuesday it signed an agreement with Iran Air "expressing the airline's intent" to buy its aircraft, setting up the biggest business deal between the Islamic Republic and America since the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran....
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Boeing Co. said Tuesday it signed an agreement with Iran Air "expressing the airline's intent" to buy its aircraft, setting up the biggest business deal between the Islamic Republic and America since the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Among the Senate's most vulnerable Republicans, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey stood firmly with the powerful National Rifle Association on the latest ill-fated attempts at gun control. So did Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Among the Senate's most vulnerable Republicans, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey stood firmly with the powerful National Rifle Association on the latest ill-fated attempts at gun control. So did Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump's decision to fire his embattled campaign manager less than a month before the Republican convention sent a powerful signal to weary GOP leaders that the billionaire businessman recognizes the increasingly dire state of his presidential campaign. Now, his party is looking for him to quickly implement other changes to mount a credible challenge to likely rival Hillary Clinton....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump's decision to fire his embattled campaign manager less than a month before the Republican convention sent a powerful signal to weary GOP leaders that the billionaire businessman recognizes the increasingly dire state of his presidential campaign. Now, his party is looking for him to quickly implement other changes to mount a credible challenge to likely rival Hillary Clinton....
Philadelphia, Pa., Jun 21, 2016 / 12:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick, the third bishop of Philadelphia, started St. Charles Borromeo seminary out of his home on Fifth Street in the center of the city in 1832. There were just five students.Forty years and four moves later, the seminary settled at its current location – the Overbrook campus in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, in 1870. With a beautiful 75 acres in the peaceful neighborhood, the school has become a pillar of the community over the past 146 years.Now, the seminary must undergo another move.This month, officials announced that the school was abandoning a previous plan for consolidation on the current campus, and is looking to move to a partner Catholic college or university in the archdiocese.Bishop Timothy Senior, the rector of St. Charles, was brought in during 2012 with the difficult mandate of deciding what to do with a seminary losing money to aging and unused buildings.“The excess capacity...
Philadelphia, Pa., Jun 21, 2016 / 12:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick, the third bishop of Philadelphia, started St. Charles Borromeo seminary out of his home on Fifth Street in the center of the city in 1832. There were just five students.
Forty years and four moves later, the seminary settled at its current location – the Overbrook campus in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, in 1870. With a beautiful 75 acres in the peaceful neighborhood, the school has become a pillar of the community over the past 146 years.
Now, the seminary must undergo another move.
This month, officials announced that the school was abandoning a previous plan for consolidation on the current campus, and is looking to move to a partner Catholic college or university in the archdiocese.
Bishop Timothy Senior, the rector of St. Charles, was brought in during 2012 with the difficult mandate of deciding what to do with a seminary losing money to aging and unused buildings.
“The excess capacity on the campus in Overbrook was really a longstanding challenge, it wasn’t a new problem,” Bishop Senior told CNA.
He said while enrollment numbers have ebbed and flowed since his own education at the seminary in the 1980s, they have always ranged from about 140-170, far below the peak number of students and future priests in times like the 1950s.
“Meanwhile the program is encumbered with the excess infrastructure, built for another age, for a day when seminaries were much larger,” he said.
The original plan was to consolidate and move students into half of the 650,000 total square feet of buildings on campus. The undergraduate seminary students on the so-called “lower side” would move to join the graduate theologian students on the “upper side,” and the lower side would be marketed and sold.
The school was already struggling to raise the necessary millions of dollars to keep up with annual operating costs, and had steadily chipped away at its endowment fund over the years, which it attempted to replace by selling some of its most valuable art and historic books.
Still, the consolidation would have cost the seminary $50 million at a conservative estimate, and saved the school just $1 million of the current $3.4 million spent on operating costs, Bishop Senior said.
After a feasibility study and talks with donors, alumni, and the Catholic faithful of the diocese, Bishop Senior said while there was still clear support for the seminary, there was not support for spending $50 million on renovating the old buildings.
St. Charles Borromeo seminary. Credit: CatholicPhilly.com
“Then the question became, would you support a plan where there would be a campaign for the endowment of the seminary because the seminary has relocated and sold the entire campus and built new facilities elsewhere? There was a lot of support for that, from all sectors - from alumni who were interviewed, from major donors, the lay faithful and partner bishops,” Bishop Senior said.
The decision was not an easy or unsentimental one. While it’s been in the works for about a year, the decision to move instead of consolidate has been “painful,” said Bishop Senior, who himself is an alum of St. Charles.
“I don’t want to minimize the attachment to the campus,” he said.
“First of all it’s a beautiful campus, secondly it’s a historic place. For priests and lay people and permanent deacons and religious who have gone to the seminary there and studied theology and have discerned their vocations to ministry, it’s a very sacred place.”
But it’s also a place that’s deteriorating, with a lot of deferred maintenance and excess space that is “encumbering the mission” of the seminary, Bishop Senior said.
“And that’s where I start saying, the seminary is not a museum.”
The next step is for the seminary board and faculty to find a suitable partner college, with some available land where St. Charles could build whatever facilities they would need that they would not share with their partner school.
Bishop Senior said so far, the conversations with potential partner schools out of the archdiocese’s 11 Catholic colleges and universities have been “very hypothetical.” The process of finding a partner, building additional facilities and moving will take another two or three years.
“We have to have a commitment to the mission of the seminary and a solid commitment to Catholic identity in order for it to be a suitable partner,” he said.
“And it also has to be a win-win, good for us and good for that institution.”
But while the move has been a difficult conclusion to come to, Bishop Senior said the program at the seminary is strong. Enrollment jumped from 128 in 2013 to 146 at the end of this school year, and projected numbers for next year are up to 168.
Partnering with a college or university is also not uncommon – approximately one-third of seminaries in the United States follow this model, Bishop Senior said.
“We’re going to have the same sense of zeal and mission that those who built Overbrook campus and established the seminary way back in 1800s had,” he said.
“They weren’t interested in preserving institutions as they had been known, but they were interested in responding to the needs of the Church at that time.”
“Even as we treasure our past and recall the tradition, the most important thing is the formation of leaders, priests and other leaders who have that spirit of evangelization and missionary discipleship.”
CHANDIGARH, India (AP) -- Millions of people across India twisted themselves into complex yoga positions Tuesday as the country celebrated International Yoga Day....
CHANDIGARH, India (AP) -- Millions of people across India twisted themselves into complex yoga positions Tuesday as the country celebrated International Yoga Day....
YULIN, China (AP) -- A city in southern China went ahead with an annual dog-meat eating festival Tuesday despite heavy criticism and protests from animal rights activists....
YULIN, China (AP) -- A city in southern China went ahead with an annual dog-meat eating festival Tuesday despite heavy criticism and protests from animal rights activists....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Two wildfires that together burned 7 square miles and drove several hundred people from their homes in foothill suburbs of Los Angeles were growing fast and surging closer to each other....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Two wildfires that together burned 7 square miles and drove several hundred people from their homes in foothill suburbs of Los Angeles were growing fast and surging closer to each other....
