Cover
story Mundelein, St. Francis tread diverging paths
By ROBERT McCLORY
Special Report Writer
It may seem ironic that the school of theology with the largest
enrollment of seminarians in the country, Mundelein Seminary near Chicago (186
students) and the smallest, St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee (five
candidates for the priesthood), are only 60 miles apart.
The experience of these two institutions illustrates vividly the
unexpected and bizarre contrasts that can occur in post-Vatican II seminary
education.
In the late 1970s, both schools had similar enrollments of about
65 seminary students, but each was moving in a different direction in separate
attempts to implement the directives of the council and respond to the imminent
shortage of vocations. That has made all the difference.
Indeed, theological education in Chicago and Milwaukee has been a
story of contrasts for more than 150 years. Both dioceses were established in
the same year, 1843, and their first bishops, William Quarter in Chicago and
John Henni in Milwaukee, founded seminaries within two years. Over the next two
decades the Chicago school, the University of St. Mary of the Lake, was beset
with weak leadership, continual financial crises and bitter battles between
diocesan officials and the seminary faculty. The school closed in 1868 in the
midst of the mental breakdown of Chicago's fourth bishop, James Duggan. It
would reopen only 55 years later, in 1921.
In contrast, the Milwaukee diocese experienced smooth, unbroken
leadership under Henni for 37 years; St. Francis became the leading seminary in
the Midwest, drawing students from Chicago, St. Louis and other emerging
dioceses.
During the late 1920s and early 30s, Chicagos
aggressive Cardinal George Mundelein managed to arouse pride in his citys
stew of ethnic groups with the new St. Mary of the Lake Seminary on a 900-acre
campus in a northwest suburb, which promptly changed its name to Mundelein.
By the 1950s St. Francis and the Mundelein school were comparable
in enrollment, governance, student regulations and approach to theological
education.
The similarities began to dissolve in 1969. That was the year that
Msgr. William Schuit became rector at St. Francis and quickly instituted a
shakeup in curriculum and every other aspect of seminary life; it came to be
known as the Schuit shift.
He and his associates took seriously and literally the Vatican II
decrees that called for the church to immerse itself in the language, culture
and concerns of the modern age.
Seminarians were no longer to be isolated from society; rather,
they were to become general practitioners, well equipped to apply Christian
values to modern society.
In 1970 the curriculum reflected the new emphasis. Among the new
courses were: Introduction to Theology and the Personal Sciences, and Pastoral
Analysis of Contemporary Social Problems.
Field education programs put students to work outside the seminary
and traditional discipline was relaxed.
The most important change was the dramatic, full-scale opening of
the school to lay students. Our offerings are such that a good share of
them can be of significant value to anyone interested in following the
directives of the council, not just those seeking a full share of the
priesthood, the rector said.
In 1972, the first lay cohort -- eight men and two women -- began
studies at the seminary amid wide publicity. The school advertised this
historic departure from tradition with brochures urging interested persons to
pass the word along.
As interest and numbers of lay students grew, the curriculum was
revised to maintain at least some distinction between seminarians (working for
a master of divinity degree) and the laity (earning a masters in
theological studies). But lay students attended the same classes as the
seminarians, mixed freely and were virtually indistinguishable (except for the
women) from those destined for the priesthood.
Like the seminarians, the laity had individual spiritual
directors, were invited to seminary liturgies and took part in formation and
ministerial programs.
In 1976 the Schuit shift ran into unexpected complications. By
then laity accounted for 20 percent of the enrollment, and the number of
seminary students had dropped from 144 to 94 in just three years.
Seminary literature referred to lay students as those who do not
desire ordination, wrote Gary Pokorny, St. Francis present
lay formation director, in an anniversary essay.
However much this reflected the intention of the program, it
did not always accurately reflect the desire or intentions of individual
students. Some Catholic women felt called to the priesthood but, unable to
pursue that course, sought other avenues of service. ... Likewise some men
began preparing for ordination, only to discontinue studies for priesthood and
complete their formation as lay students.
Faculty observed that lay students, many of whom had families and
outside jobs, took courses more seriously than our own students who are
geared to priesthood, and [lay students] are more motivated because they have
to make more effort.
St. Francis continued its commitment even as the enrollment shift
continued. In 1985 laypersons constituted 50 percent of the student body; 28 of
these were women and seven men.
Meanwhile, the Mundelein Seminary had initiated many of the same
Vatican II-inspired reforms: relaxation of rules, introduction of the social
sciences, expanded formation and ministry programs. There was one major
difference: Mundelein did not admit lay students as equals or near equals into
the school.
The rector, Fr. Thomas Murphy, was determined to keep enrollment
high. An exceptionally persuasive man, he traveled the country in 1977 and
78, visiting bishops, urging them to send their candidates to Chicago and
praising the high quality of the seminarys pontifical (appointed by the
Vatican) faculty, which included respected names like Fr. John Shea and Sr.
Agnes Cunningham.
Murphy did an incredible selling job, said Fr. John Canary, the
current rector. At first no one wanted to change, but he took the whole
thing in his own hands. Soon the effects of the vocation decline, which
had seen Mundeleins enrollment plummet by about 50 percent in a decade,
began to reverse itself with an infusion of students from every area of the
country.
Murphy, who was made a bishop in 1978, died last June as
archbishop of Seattle, where he helped arrange a settlement between the Vatican
and Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen in the mid-1980s.
As Mundeleins situation stabilized, St. Francis grew more
troubled. In early 1985 a five-member, Vatican-appointed visitation team
studied the seminary and issued a highly critical report. The still growing
proportion of laity, it said, indicates a shift in the primary purpose of
the institution. ... Mixing of all students for classes or formation events may
present a problem. The school responded, We consider this to be a
very favorable situation, given the kind of theological and pastoral situations
encountered in the church today. It has provided us with a fine opportunity to
clarify the identity and responsibilities of both the priesthood and all the
baptized.
Nevertheless, the handwriting was on the wall, and many bishops
who had traditionally relied on St. Francis sent their seminarians elsewhere.
In 1987 the school still had representatives from six dioceses; in 1997 it has
none except for the five students studying for Milwaukee.
In retrospect, Fr. Andrew Nelson, the present rector, acknowledged
that some of the administrative decisions over the past 25 years were
ill-conceived but insisted that the visitation team report terribly
misrepresented what we had done and were trying to do. ... The criticisms were
deadly and gave us a negative image among bishops.
St. Francis has made some revisions and additions in the 12 years
since the report but has retained its commitment to mixed, lay-seminarian
education. Over the past five years the school has produced some 50 lay
graduates with its current master of arts degree in pastoral studies. Of these,
said Nelson, 42 are employed in parishes. Another 50 lay students are presently
enrolled in the same degree program, while 80 others are earning certificates
in areas of pastoral work.
Perhaps in time seminarians will return in substantial numbers,
but Nelson makes no apologies for St. Francis present condition.
There is absolutely no future for this church without incorporating men
and women together, he said. Thats how it is. I can see no
other way!
National Catholic Reporter, September 12,
1997
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