Members and friends of the Boston Area Order of Malta received an update on formation activities at St. John’s Seminary, located in Brighton, Massachusetts. The update took place by way of a Zoom call on Tuesday evening, March 9, 2021.

Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Boston, made a surprise appearance at the event, leading the group in an opening prayer. In brief remarks, Cardinal O’Malley mentioned he had just returned from the ordination of a new friar, and that St. John’s has just gone through an extensive regular accreditation process and passed with flying colors. Finally, he expressed words of gratitude, “I just want to thank all of you for your support and your prayers for the seminary. It is the heart of the diocese, and the formation of theses chosen men to serve as priests is so crucial to what we are about, our mission as a church, and who we are as a Eucharistic people. We need holy and good priests to be able to carry the Word of God, and the Eucharist to all of God’s people. Thank you very much for being here tonight.”

Fr. Ed Riley, Dean of Men and Director of Pastoral Formation at the seminary, spoke about the different phases of formation, a process that takes six years and includes:

• Human Formation: What are each man’s human gifts, his challenges, his skills?
• Spiritual Life: What is his relationship with Jesus Christ? What does his prayer life look like?
• Intellectual Formation: The studies both of philosophy for two years and then theology for four years.
• Pastoral Formation: This is where the human, spiritual and intellectual gifts are put at the service of the people of God.

Fr. Riley compared life at the seminary to that of a family.  “That’s the way we live our life, but it’s to increase our capacity; to be men of virtue; to be men who are leaders; to be collaborative; be able to work with one another; and to truly be servants, to have servants’ hearts.”

Two seminarians, Marcel Ferrari and Peter Schirripa, talked about life in St. John’s. Marcel recalled realizing that he was just a few doors down from a chapel in the hall. “I remember that having such a profound impact on me, just realizing, that this is the house of God and I get to live in it, and I get to serve here.” Peter referenced Proverbs 27:17, “iron is sharpened by iron,” to describe the value of the community at St. John’s, saying they are sharpened by one another, “but most importantly by Jesus Himself, by literally crashing into him every day through all of our interactions and all of our prayer.”

Attendees expressed great appreciation for the extraordinary commitment made by these selfless seminarians.

• Paul Young: “Your faithfulness and your willingness to answer God’s call is really inspiring for all of us. You are the future of the Church.”
• Mary Jo Kriz: “There is a lot of hope at the seminary, and we just have to keep praying, and praying, and praying and supporting you.”
• Maureen Bleday: “I’ve got to say that part of the reason I’m in Malta is because of seminarians like you.”