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On Sunday, 15^th May, the Seminarians organised the annual ‘Festa Abbatini’ after a two-year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Altar boys from all over Gozo, together with their families, attended the activity held on the parvis of the Madonna ta’ Pinu Sanctuary.

The event started around 5.15 pm with two simultaneous meetings, one for the altar boys and other children who were present addressed by the Seminarians, and the other for their parents addressed by both the rector and the vice-rector of the Seminary.

The meeting for the young ones was inspired by Pope Francis’ words in his address to the Gozitan faithful during his visit to the island. The phrase chosen was: “You are a treasure in the Church and for the Church. I repeat: You are a treasure in the Church and for the Church.” At the end of the meeting, the altar boys were then invited into the Sanctuary to pray to Our Lady.

The activity proceeded on the parvis of the Sanctuary, where the altar boys participated in various fun activities. The activity ended at around 7.30 pm.  

On Saturday 14^th May, the community left the Seminary early in the morning for its annual pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Ta’ Pinu at Għarb. On their way to the Sanctuary, the community recited the prayer of the Rosary, the prayer advocated by the Virgin Mother. When they arrived at the Sanctuary, the community retreated to the inner chapel, where Mass was celebrated by the vice-rector, Fr Samuel Grech. After reading the Gospel, Deacon Gabriel Vella renewed the vows he took a year before when he was about to be ordained Deacon.

The Priestly Ordination of Deacon Gabriel is to be celebrated in the Gozo Cathedral on Friday 17^th May.

On Thursday, 5^th May 2022, the seminarians organised a vocational outreach at Victoria’s Sacred Heart Minor Seminary. The outreach consisted of four meetings, one for each student’s year. During the meeting, the seminarians emphasised the importance of being aware that God calls every person and that with this call comes the responsibility to hear and respond to it. Some of the seminarians shared their vocational experiences; that is how they heard God’s call and responded to it.

This outreach was part of the Diocese’s vocational drive in all the secondary and post-secondary schools of Gozo in preparation for Vocation Sunday held on 8th May.

On Tuesday 27^th April 2022, a moral case study concerning liberty and conditioning regarding the human moral act was presented by seminarian Anthony Joe Borg. This moral case study was presented as part of the Moral Theology course entitled “Human Moral Act”, whose lecturer is Mgr. Anton Borg.

First, the case was read, and it was about a female youth who started taking drugs after a relationship breakup. Her friends argued about how free she was to decide to start using drugs. Following the reading of the case, seminarian Borg presented his paper as an answer. He started by presenting the teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the human moral act. This was followed by presenting the role of the conscience in the human moral act, including the particular aspects of an individual’s character. Finally, seminarian Borg mentioned accidental conditioning with the human act.

This moral case study was attended by seminarians, formators, and priests from the Diocese of Gozo.

On Wednesday 27^th April, a meeting about the spirituality of Charles de Foucauld was organised for the Seminary community. The meeting was addressed by Fr Alex Cauchi, a member of the Gozitan Priestly Fraternity of Charles de Foucauld.

Fr Cauchi started with a brief note about the life of the saintly priest. He mentioned that Charles de Foucauld was a cavalry officer in the French Army, then an explorer and geographer, and finally, a Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg in the Sahara in Algeria. De Foucauld was born on 15^th September 1858 and died through assassination on the 1^st December 1916. His inspiration and writings led to the founding of the Little Brothers of Jesus and the Little Sisters of the Poor, among other religious congregations.

Fr Cauchi continued the meeting with a personal note, sharing his encounter with the spirituality of de Foucauld. He also told the Seminarians about the Gozitan Priestly Fraternity of Charles de Foucauld and emphasised how important it is for priests to have fraternal moments with other priests.

Charles de Foucauld is considered by many faithful to be a martyr. His beatification process started in 1927, eleven years after his death. He was declared Venerable on 24^th April 2001 by Pope John Paul II, then Blessed on 13^th November 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI. On 27^th May 2020, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis would declare de Foucauld a saint on 15^th  May 2022.

Lent is an important period in the liturgical year that enables the faithful to deeply examine their lives and respond to the invite of conversion while preparing to celebrate the Pascal mystery. The Seminary community was offered several opportunities to reap the spiritual benefits of Lent.

The daily programme of the Seminary dedicated more time to prayer, including the Mid Day prayer, the Via Crucis, and the Via Matris. On Wednesdays and Fridays, the community skipped lunch to exercise fasting. On Fridays, after dinner, a lengthy adoration took place that included a reflection by the rector and the adoration of the Cross. The Seminary formators shared a reflection on the day’s Liturgy of the Word during daily mass. In the early morning of Thursday 31^st March, the community prayed the Via Crucis and celebrated mass on the iconic Ta’ Għammar hill. Apart from these initiatives, the Liturgical and Missionary Group organised a charity collection for Gozo’s secondary schools and the community itself to help the mission of the Ursuline sisters with children in need.

Unfortunately, the Seminary community had to spend the last days of Lent in quarantine. For this reason, the penitential celebration and fraternal correction had to be cancelled. However, the yearly spiritual retreat during the first days of Holy Week was adapted into an online format. The community will return to the Seminary on Monday 25^th April, after having a week of holidays.

During the weekend of 2^nd and 3^rd April 2022, the much-awaited visit by Pope Francis to Malta and Gozo took place. The Seminary community was busy on that weekend. On Saturday morning, the Seminarians left Gozo early to attend the rehearsals on the Floriana Granaries for the Papal mass that took place the day after. In the afternoon, the Seminary community attended the Pope’s visit to Ta’ Pinu where he met the faithful of Gozo.

On Sunday morning, the community left again to Malta to attend the final rehearsals for the Papal mass and eventually participate in the mass itself. Before mass, Pope Francis greeted the Seminarians one by one. After mass, the community had lunch with the  Maltese Seminary community at their Seminary. Finally, both communities had the opportunity to take a group photo with Pope Francis at the Nunciature.

From the beginning of Lent, the Seminary community read on each day a reflection from the Pope’s teaching on the theme of the Mercy of God. These reflections were collected in a booklet by the Diocese of Gozo as part of the Diocese’s pastoral plan.

Photos: Reno Rapa Photograpy; Pope Francis in Malta.

On Wednesday 9^th March, a meeting about the Spirituality and Mission of the Legion of Mary was organised for the Seminary community. Mr Alfred Grech, a lay member of the Legion of Mary, was invited to conduct the meeting. Mr Grech explained the beginning of the Legion of Mary by the Irish founder, Frank Duff, and how the Marian spirituality formed by Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort was adopted. The meeting continued with an explanation of the now well-organised structure of the Legion of Mary on a universal level and the apostolic work done by the members. Mr Grech finished the talk with an overview of the Legion’s current situation in the Dioceses of Malta and Gozo. A discussion with the seminarians followed.

The Legion of Mary is an international Marian movement of the Catholic Church that serves it voluntarily. On the 7^th of September 2021, the Legion of Mary celebrated its 100th anniversary from its founding date. Today, it is the largest apostolic organisation of lay people in the Catholic Church.

On Tuesday 1^st March 2022 afternoon, His Excellency Msgr Alessandro D’Errico, Apostolic Nuncio for Malta and Libya, paid a visit to our Seminary on the occasion of the termination of his five-year term in Malta, Gozo, and Libya. He was welcomed by the community, formators, the Bishop of Gozo Msgr Anton Teuma, and the Apostolic Vicar Msgr Tarcisio Camilleri. This was his third visit to our Seminary in five years as the Pope’s Representative to our islands. This visit was marked by a sense of familiarity and joy, which were felt during the dinner as well as during the meeting with the community, formators, and Bishop Teuma. Msgr D’Errico conveyed words of encouragement to the seminarians as candidates for the priesthood, encouraging them to have a strong spirit of communion with the Bishop and the Pope. This spirit of communion consists mainly in understanding and sharing the same vision of the Church defined in Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation “Evangelii gaudium”. Msgr D’Errico shared some thoughts about a missionary Church that calls priests not to sit down but to be willing to get up and spread the joy of God’s love by the power of the Holy Spirit, whilst not being afraid of changes. Msgr D’Errico expressed his concern regarding the presence of adolescents and youths in the local churches’ pastoral activities. He also expressed the fact that a distinction between concerts of musical heritage and sacred liturgical music has to be made in our local churches since liturgical celebrations are an experience of a living Church and help in the People of God’s fellowship. Above all, the Nuncio urged our hearts to be filled with the joy of Christ and to be a credible witness to the beauty of the Gospel. As a sign of appreciation, the Seminary community presented the Nuncio with an image of the statue of St. Joseph, Patron of Ecclesiastical Diplomacy, which is venerated in the Seminary Chapel. Presently, Msgr D’Errico is ending his diplomatic ministry as a Nuncio. He was instrumental in communicating with the Holy See when the election of the new Bishop of Gozo took place two years ago, at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between Friday 11^th and Saturday 12^th February 2022 our community joined the Seminary community of the Archdiocese of Malta for a human formation seminar on addictions. This seminar was held at the Archbishop’s Seminary in tal-Virtù, Rabat Malta and was led by Fr Joseph Farrugia, who hails from our diocese of Gozo. Our rector Fr Richard N. Farrugia and our vice-rector Fr Samuel Grech joined us for this seminar. On Friday evening our community joined the Maltese Seminary’s community for a moment of Eucharistic Adoration and prayer. Afterwards, we had dinner together and spent some time together on a night stroll in the silent city of Imdina. On Saturday morning we started our human formation seminar. During the first session of this seminar, Fr Joseph treated the relationship between attachment problems and addictions. Afterwards, we had a short break. A second session followed, and this treated the brain’s functioning within addictions. After this second session, we had some time for questions. At noon we celebrated the Holy Mass together, and this was led by our rector. In the afternoon we attended a third session that dealt with addictions in religious life. This was followed by a short break. A fourth and final session was held, dealing with the methods that a religious person can adopt in order to live a healthier life and prevent addictions. This final session was followed by question time. During this formation seminar, we had the opportunity to spend some time with the seminarians of the Archdiocese of Malta. Most of all, this seminar helped us to reflect upon our lifestyles as seminarians, especially our relationships.

On Wednesday 2nd February, the annual blessing of the Icon that represents this year’s theme took place. The celebration was preceded by Can Richard N. Farrugia, the rector, who read the passage from Luke’s Gospel about the disciples of Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35). This passage, particularly the verse “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other” (v. 17), served as the source of inspiration for the Icon. This verse was chosen as it guides the Diocese’s pastoral plan for the year 2021-2022. At the end of the celebration, Daniel Mercieca Pavia, the iconographer, gave a theological explanation of the technique and symbols used and showed how every detail has a profound significance that serves as an inspiration to whoever wants to delve deeper into the biblical message of the passage through the Icon.

On Sunday 23^rd January, the Sunday of the Word of God, seminarians Matthew Borg from the parish of Xagħra and Franklin Micallef from the parish of Ta’ Kerċem, both in their fifth year of formation, were conferred with the ministry of Lector by our Bishop H.L. Mgr Anthony Teuma. The conferral of this ministry took place during the 10.30 am Mass celebrated at the Fontana parish church. Following the reading of the Gospel, the candidates were presented to the Bishop. After the homily, the Bishop prayed upon the candidates and presented them the Bible. The Bishop encouraged both seminarians to keep the Word of God as a programme for life. Through the ministry of Lector, the seminarian gets more acquainted with the Word of God and, by letting God make him a worthy tool, he spreads the Word of God to humankind during liturgical celebrations and pastoral contexts.