New Rector Appointed for St. Joseph Seminary, Mangalore

NEW DELHI, May 12, 2010, 11:00 Hrs (CBCI News):

Fr. Joseph Martis has been appointed as the new Rector of St Joseph’s inter-diocesan Seminary, Jeppu, Mangalore, by the Congregation of the Evangelization of Peoples, Rome. This was announced by Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza of the Mangalore on May, 10. Fr Martis will take charge as the Rector on June 3.

Fr. Joseph Martis was born in Pangala in 1960 He has an MA in Philosophy from Dharwad University together with Diploma in Formative Psychology, Licentiate and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Paris. He joined the Staff of St Joseph’s Seminary, Jeppu in 2003, and played the role of a formator in different capacities as Minister of philosophers, Dean of Studies and Editor of ‘Unitas’ the annual magazine of the Seminary.

The 131 year-old seminary established in the year 1879 was managed by the Society of Jesus for number of years. In the year 1995 the administration was handed over to the dioceses. At present it is managed by the Board of Administration consisting of the dioceses of Mangalore, Calicut and Kannur. The Bishop of Mangalore is the Chairman of the Board. In the year 2009-2010 it has formed 249 seminarians and religious sisters from 27 Dioceses and 9 Religious Congregations of men and women spread out all over the country. Since last four years it has taken up the mission of teaching Theology to the Laity. The Seminary accommodates 18 resident professors and more than two dozen visiting professors. The seminary focuses on the multidimensional and holistic formation of the future priests and religious with spiritual, human, intellectual, pastoral and missionary dimensions.

In an interview to Raknno weekly, Fr. Martis said there is a drastic change in the orientation and approach in the present day seminarians. Their attitude and outlook on many issues are different. Youth today have a different outlook on life, family, spirituality, church etc. Today their experience of life is poor. The present generation does not feel the hunger and poverty experienced by people in the past, or have the same attitude towards work or cultivation.

On the key elements and challenges in today’s priestly formation he said, we need to emphasize holistic formation. The spiritual experience of Jesus, feeling and knowing the tensions and stresses of the common man, feeling of oneness with the suffering, sharing of Christ’s love with all are some of the key elements. The spiritual and psychological formation towards these issues need to be focused in the present times, he added.

On the tension between administration and pastoral ministry, he said, every priest is called to become a shepherd. His attention has to be multifaceted. He has to heed to every aspect of human life like spiritual, human, social, economic etc. When a priest works in an institution he attends to these multifaceted needs and aspects of life and becomes a promoter of holistic growth of the society.

Responding to the question of the huge structural growth in the Church vis-à-vis the spiritual growth Fr. Martis said there is a huge spiritual growth around us. Yet as it is not complete, much more is yet to be done. There are a number of issues and responsibilities that needs serious attention.

On the issue of many priests and religious serving in cities while there are hardly any candidates for priestly and religious life from the cities he admitted that these facts and figures cannot be denied. We need to create awareness in this regard and we have to concentize people of the city with regard to the responsibility of every family to foster good vocations. The small number of children in a family is one of the major deciding factors here. Now as there are more and more colleges, English medium schools, easier means of travel and multimedia facilities in the rural set ups. In the years to come the difference between the cities and villages would narrow down much more.

On the challenge posed by the fundamentalist groups, Fr. Martis said it is a good challenge to prepare ourselves, prepare the present seminarians and give them a right orientation. It is a challenge to prepare them spiritually and psychologically. We need to learn to be ready for any eventuality and suffering in the future; we need to train ourselves for a committed and courageous future; we would be better equipped spiritually and psychologically.

Based on inputs from Fr Francis Rodrigues