December 2015
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear Friend,
As the days grow colder, I hope you might find warmth in our celebration of the radiant birth of the “Sun of Justice.” Each year the Great Feast of the Nativity gives us the opportunity to remember God’s self-emptying and his taking on human nature.
Indeed, God takes on the fullness of what it means to be human – the physical, the emotional, the intellectual, and the spiritual. The God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, in assuming human nature perfects it, and inspires each of us to be fully human in as perfect a manner as possible.
Your Byzantine Catholic Seminary aspires to form a more perfect human being in each and every student who perceives a call to be a future leader for the Church. Our staff and faculty strive for the same, and in their individual efforts seek to live and give guidance by the grace of God-incarnate.
Our Seminary has been doing so for the past 65 years. On the 16th of October, we quietly observed this milestone occasion by welcoming 20 young men into our community for a weekend of prayer and retreat. The “Come and See” weekend of discovery was a positive experience of the life of our Seminary and its potential in allowing the Holy Spirit to enliven the call to ministerial service. This bodes well for the future of our Church and our Seminary.
The fact remains, however, that we are a relatively small Church when it comes to numbers of Eastern Catholics, and our Seminary must accomplish what other seminaries do with their far greater resources.
The assistance of our benefactors and friends remains the encouragement we rely on to continue, the prayer through which God continues to enliven our formational efforts, and the true gift reflecting the condescension of God, Who as a humble baby in a cave at Bethlehem, shows us perfectly a person’s potential to make a complete gift of self.
If you have already donated to our Christmas appeal, we thank you for your support. If you would like to donate, please feel free to click on this link.
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus,
(Very Rev.) Robert M. Pipta
Rector