Notre Dame Seminary at 100: A house of prayer

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Father Joshua Rodrigue, the rector-president of Notre Dame Seminary, reflected on a Scripture passage from Isaiah Sept. 16 as he told the story of the seminary's 100 years as the place in the Archdiocese of New Orleans where thousands of men have been prepared for the priesthood.

"The prophet Isaiah reminds us of what has happened over the century within the walls of Notre Dame Seminary," Father Rodrigue said in his homily at the Centennial Mass at St. Louis Cathedral honoring the seminary's founding in 1923. "'Their holocausts and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.'

"In the heart of our seminary – in (the Blessed Mother's) chapel – hundreds of thousands of Masses and the holocausts and sacrifices offered on the altars in our chapel have been acceptable to our Lord. ... And it is not just the chapel that is designated as a house of prayer. The seminary itself is a house of prayer."

Archbishop Gregory Aymond was the principal celebrant of the centennial Mass, and he was joined by seven other bishops and priests of the archdiocese.

Father Rodrigue said just as the apostle John learned more about Jesus by taking Mary into his home as Jesus requested at the foot of the cross, so do seminarians learn more about a personal relationship with Jesus during their time studying and interacting with other seminarians.

"I see Notre Dame Seminary today as a home because it is in the home that vocations truly begin," he said. "It is in the home at Nazareth where our Lord experienced the school of Mary and Joseph. And, from our Gospel today, it is in the home of John that the beloved disciple finished his formation in the same school of Mary.

"From his years of formation with Jesus, John learned the teachings and the Gospel way of life. But, in taking Mary into his home, would not the beloved disciple have learned more about the Lord that he loved? The hours of hearing from Mary what Jesus was like as a boy, the story of him living in the home at Nazareth. That's how you get to know about someone – from their parents."

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