Posted November 16, 2009





By Christie L. Chicoine
CS&T Staff Writer

WYNNEWOOD – A series of lectures on the priesthood soon to begin at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary is not for priests only.

“The vocation to the priesthood is a gift not only to the inspanidual priest, but a gift to the whole Church,” said Redemptorist Father Dennis J. Billy, the John Cardinal Krol Chair of Moral Theology at the seminary and sponsor of the lecture series.

“The priest as the spiritual father of the parish or of the particular ministry in which he is serving has a very important role to play not only in his own life but in the life of the people,” he said. “It’s important that the people come to have a knowledge of the great dignity of the priesthood but also the burdens that the priest shares.”

The priest, in imitating Christ, is called to have compassion toward people, to enter into their lives and to try to be with them and suffer with them, Father Billy continued.

“It works in a reciprocal way: priests need the support of their people,” he said.

Although the lecture series is being conducted in conjunction with the universal Church’s celebration of the Year of the Priest, Father Billy planned the series shortly after he was appointed the Cardinal Krol chair in the summer of 2008, before Pope Benedict XVI announced the Year of the Priest.

The timing, Father Billy believes, was providential. “The celebration of the Year for Priests is really a celebration of the entire Church,” he said.

Father Billy encourages Catholic adults and young adults of various states of life within the Church – laity and men and women religious in addition to the priests themselves – to attend the lecture series.

The series is also recommended for college students and for teenagers who are discerning a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life.

Participants will learn more about what it means to be a priest – including priestly aspirations, hopes and struggles as well as what priests are called to be, Father Billy said.

“These various lectures are our attempts to focus on different aspects of the priestly ministry that the lay faithful would be exposed to,” including the priest as pastor, as the celebrant at Mass, proclaimer of sacred Scripture, confessor, teacher and community leader.

“It’s an attempt to raise awareness that what underlies a priest’s ministry in life is the call to follow Jesus Christ,” Father Billy said.

The ultimate goal, he said, is to publish the lectures in book form.

All lectures, which include a question-and-answer session, are from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Vianney Hall Auditorium of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood.

Two of the lectures, a complete list of which appear on this page, are scheduled for February:

Thursday, Feb. 18
Men of Prayer: Priests and Holiness
Presenter: Msgr. Michael K. Magee, Chair, Systematic Theology Department, St. Charles Seminary.

Tuesday, Feb. 23
Men of the Word: Priests and Scripture
Presenter: Father Patrick J. Brady, Chair, Sacred Scripture, St. Charles Seminary.

The John Cardinal Krol Chair of Moral Theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. was founded in 1990 by now-Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

Named in honor of the late Cardinal John Krol – who served as Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1961 to 1988 – the Krol Chair was established to enhance the seminary’s efforts to promote a better understanding, appreciation and acceptance of Catholic moral teaching.

Through teaching, lectures, symposiums, workshops and publications, the Krol Chair contributes to the seminary’s primary mission of preparing men for pastoral service as ordained priests and to its secondary mission of educational outreach to the broader Church community.

For more information, visit the web site www.scs.edu/krol-chair.htm or call 610-785-6500.

CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine may be reached at 215-587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.


John Cardinal Krol Chair of Moral Theology Lecture Series on the Priesthood

All lectures, which include a question-and-answer session, are from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Vianney Hall Auditorium at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood.

Thursday, Feb. 18
Men of Prayer: Priests and Holiness
Presenter: Msgr. Michael K. Magee, Chair of the Systematic Theology Department, Theology spanision, St. Charles Seminary

Tuesday, Feb. 23
Men of the Word: Priests and Scripture
Presenter: Father Patrick J. Brady, Chair, Sacred Scripture, Theology spanision, St. Charles Seminary

Tuesday, March 2
Men of Faith: Priests and Church Teaching
Presenter: Father Robert A. Pesarchick, Academic Dean, Theology spanision, St. Charles Seminary

Tuesday, March 9
Men of Compassion: Priests and Forgiveness
Redemptorist Father Dennis J. Billy, John Cardinal Krol Chair of Moral Theology, St. Charles Seminary

Tuesday, March 16
Men of Service: Priests and the Pastoral Life
Presenter: Father Anthony J. Costa, Spiritual Director, College spanision, St. Charles Seminary

Tuesday, March 23
Men of Vision: Priests and Leadership
Presenter: Msgr. David E. Diamond, Vice Rector, St. Charles Seminary