Mary Help of Christians College Seminary: Rector's Circular 8-2012

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Rector's Circular 8-2012

Memorial of St. John of the Cross

14 December 2012

Circular Letter 08-2012

Dear Fathers, Parents, Guardians, Seminarians and Friends,

It is the time of the year to celebrate the coming of the Lord. Advent prepares us to celebrate Christmas with renewed and deeper appreciation for that great mystery that happened more than two thousand years ago when God gave us his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It should lead us to a better understanding of the history of salvation bringing a sense of awe and wonder. It should also lead us to a new longing for Christ. “Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God. My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life” (Ps 42,1f).

Advent is also a time to reflect on the final coming of Jesus Christ in glory. The second coming is connected with the mystery of the incarnation, in fact it is its fulfillment. We Christians are a waiting people, but unlike in the Old Testament, we are waiting for the fullness of his kingdom. We and the whole world are still badly in need of liberation and redemption. Therefore the Advent Season is always a time of great joy!

As your seminarian-sons go home, allow me to share with you some reasons of our great joy this blessed season:

· The Installation of the Most Rev. Renato P. Mayugba, as the 6^th Bishop of Laoag. The community has a pilgrimage-outing in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte and sang the Te Deum during the Rites at the Cathedral last December 11, 2012.

· The drafting of a constitution for the organization of the Mary Help of Christians College Seminary – Parents Association (MHCCS-PA) which will be ratified on December 15, 2012 after the Christmas Party.

· The Visit of the Relic of St. Therese of the Child Jesus to our Seminary on January 13-14, 2013.

· Our stage-play on the life of St. John the Evangelist this February 2013. Fr. Dexter Z. Cariño will direct this play which is very timely because of the Golden Jubilee of Lingayen-Dagupan as an Archdiocese.

Our Prayer Session next month is on January 27, and in the afternoon our beloved human formation director, Ate Eda Castillo will have a conference for all families of our seminarians. This is part of our Spiritual Formation Program designed by our Spiritual Director, Fr. Jasper R. Hebron. The formation to the priesthood is not only for the candidate but also involves the entire family of the seminarian. Please do not miss this event!

Finally, allow me to greet you, in behalf of the Archbishop and the Seminary Administration, a very happy Christmas and blessed, peaceful new year!

God bless us. May Mary, Help of Christians, always pray for us.

Very truly yours in Christ,

Fr. Mario Dominic C. Sanchez

Rector

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THE MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS COLLEGE SEMINARY

The Mary Help of Christians College Seminary is the Collegiate Seminary of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. It hopes to bring to the Priesthood those who have been called, and to bring them an adequate training, namely, with a conscious and free response of adherence and involvement of their whole person with Jesus Christ who calls them to intimacy of life with him and to share in His mission of salvation. (Pastores Dabo Vobis, n. 42)

Its aim is the more explicit and fuller development of a vocation to the priesthood, as it prepares young men for higher theological studies and eventually, for priestly service in the Archdiocese.

It offers a program of studies leading to the degree of Bachelor in Arts with concentration in Philosophy.

Through its varied curricular and co-curricular activities it hopes to produce graduates who would be:

· Responsible and free, creatively effective and committed Catholic Filipinos.

· Educated to love the truth, to be loyal, to respect every person.

· Just and true to their word, genuinely compassionate, men of integrity and balanced in judgment and behavior.

· Men of communion: affable, hospitable, sincere, prudent and discreet, generous and ready to serve, capable of opening himself to clear and brotherly relationship and of encouraging the same in others, quick to understand, to forgive and to console.

· Professionally competent and able to contribute fruitfully to the building of a more human world and equipped with the following skills; the ability to observe, analyze, interpret communicate intelligently and clearly, organize and effectively lead.

· Men who have learned to live in intimate and unceasing union with God; who live His Paschal Mystery in such a way that they will know how to initiate into it the people committed to their charge; who seek Christian in His Word and the Sacred Mysteries of the Church.

The Mary Help of Christians College Seminary, though seen as a place and a period in life, is above all an educational ecclesial community in progress. It is a community established by the Bishop to offer to those called by the Lord to serve as Apostles the possibility of re-living the experience of formation, which our Lord provided for the Twelve Apostles.

Christian community life is an integral content of the Mary Help of Christians College Seminary program of formation and is to found and pervade all its aspects. The integration of human experiences with Christian Life in a climate of mutual trust, fraternal concern and communion lived in an atmosphere of prayer is the fundamental thrust of MHCCS’s Formation.

The specific goal determines its features; the vocational accompanying of future priests, and therefore discernment of a vocation, the help to respond to it, and the preparation to receive the Sacred Order as imparted in the Theologate. It is then committed to a holistic formation: the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation of future priests.

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Saturday, December 15, 2012

Rector's Circular 8-2012

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