On Friday, 21st September, 2018, the Gozo Seminary opened its doors to welcome the seminarians for a new year of formation. The events of the day started with an introduction by the Rev. Rector. Then, the seminarians shared their summer experiences, which included voluntary work with various groups in Malta and abroad. The day ended with lunch at Marsalforn.
Holy Cross Monastery
Rostrevor, Northern Ireland.
On Sunday morning, 23rd September, the community started its journey towards Northern Ireland for a retreat at “Holy Cross”, a Benedictine monastery in Rostrevor. Bro. Thierry, who is a Benedictine monk lodging in the same monastery, led the retreat which ended on Thursday, 27th September.
The seminarians in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
On Friday morning, we paid a visit to the seminary of Maynooth. Then we proceeded to Dublin, the capital city of Ireland, where we visited various tourist landmarks such as St Patrick Cathedral. We returned to Gozo on Saturday afternoon.
Lectures started on Monday, 1st October.
On Friday, 5th October, Mgr Bishop Grech celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit to mark the beginning of the new year of formation. During the homily, Mgr Grech warned us seminarians of the danger of letting “the cultural schemes that we inherited” limit the presence of God in our life. This can happen to anyone. However, the Seminary community can easily be influenced by habit. The Bishop explained the importance of letting ourselves be inspired by the Holy Spirit. Bishop Grech ended his homily by inviting the Church to embrace those who have wandered away from the path of faith. We can start doing so by going through our pastoral work with love.
Professors, relatives of the seminarians and members of the Aħwa Ħbieb tas-Seminarju joined us in the celebration of Mass.
After Mass, drinks were served to all.