On the Hill

A pilgrimage to Montgomery, Alabama, in October allowed 19 Propaedeutic seminarians to explore the variety and richness of the Catholic faith while deepening their understanding of Catholic social teaching and building community.

According to the sixth edition of the Program of Priestly Formation, human formation for the Propaedeutic Year should allow the seminarians to be in an intentional community and build fraternity and relationships with one another.

“What better way to do that than with a field trip,” explains Fr. Mateo Zamora, OSB, director of pastoral formation. “It’s not just traveling together, it’s eating together, it’s working together, praying together. And this group has done an excellent job doing that.”

The four-day trip, led by Fr. Mateo and Formation Dean Fr. Hyeonggyu Lee, included stops at Equal Justice Initiative sites, the Legacy Museum, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. At the Legacy Museum, the seminarians walked through the history of slavery and racism in the United States, and at the memorial, they reflected on the lives of Black victims of lynching.

The group also visited the City of St. Jude Parish, Resurrection Catholic Missions, St. Bernard Abbey, and the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Fr. Harold Purcell founded the City of St. Jude in 1934 as a Catholic mission for African Americans. It was the final stop for the Selma-to-Montgomery marchers before they arrived at the State Capitol on March 24, 1965. Resurrection Catholic Missions, established in 1943, grew from collaboration between the Congregation of the Resurrection and Fr. Purcell. Today, it runs programs in education, evangelization, healthcare, social services, and advocacy.

“Taking the seminarians to the Legacy Museum as well as the memorial was a good lesson in how our country has dealt with the life and dignity of the human person and the culture of racism that is part of our history,” says Fr. Mateo.

The pilgrimage took place after the Propaedeutic seminarians completed a class on the life and dignity of the human person. The experience gave a face to what the students learned in the classroom.

“It’s one thing to talk about it in the classroom. It’s another thing to be in the place where those attacks on the dignity of the human person occurred and to see the pictures and the memorial with those hanging iron boxes that depict the lynching,” explains Fr. Mateo. “Black Catholics have a vibrant community, and they have something to contribute to the Church.”

A benchmark of the Program of Priestly Formation includes seminarians gaining an awareness of multicultural ministry in the Catholic Church. The students experienced this firsthand by volunteering at the City of St. Jude’s parish picnic, SoulFest, and sharing a meal with the Resurrection Catholic Missions community after Mass. They interacted with the local community, learned about their backgrounds, and attended Mass together.

“These two parishes are positive and successful responses of the Catholic Church in which they celebrate our Catholic faith, but they also celebrate the tradition, identity, and culture of Black Catholics,” says Fr. Mateo.

D’Angelo Marazita, a Propaedeutic seminarian studying for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, came away from the trip with a deeper recognition of the universality of the Catholic Church and an understanding that a person’s culture and background shapes their understanding of God and how they celebrate their faith.

“We should be ready to welcome the whole church with open arms, and recognize that everyone comes from a different background, they come from different cultures, and they come with different customs,” he says. “We should meet them in the middle to incorporate that beauty and give life to the Church. There’s not just one type of flower; there’s many types of flowers. And only with many types of flowers can you have a very, very beautiful field.”

The pilgrimage widened the seminarians’ horizons culturally, liturgically, and geographically. The group witnessed and participated in four different ways of praying. Worship at the City of St. Jude was traditional gospel, and Resurrection Catholic Missions was contemporary in their worship. They also visited St. Bernard Abbey, a monastic setting, and the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, which is a very contemplative site.

The Propaedeutic Year is a time of discernment. The trip provided an opportunity for the students to consider what ways of worship work for them and what doesn’t work.

“That’s part of the discernment,” says Fr. Mateo. “Because they will have to in the future, God willing, deal with people who have different ways of praying.”

For D’Angelo, the pilgrimage was a reaffirmation of his vocation to the priesthood.

“If we are discerning a call to lay down our lives for the Church and to minister, we need to learn how to love as Christ loves. I’m coming to recognize a deeper love for the Church every single day and growing in that love,” he says. “If you’re not loving the Church more and more day by day, then you’re going backward. It’s a confirmation that I’m going in the right direction.”