Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary welcomes parents and pastors

Seminarian Andrew Proctor, in his fourth year at the Bishop Bruté College Seminary at Marian College in Indianapolis, exchanges the Sign of Peace with his father, David Proctor, a member of Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

A seminary community is primarily made up of the men who are being formed for the priesthood, and the faculty and staff who are directing that formation.

But an important part of that community that provides support for the Church’s future priests are the seminarians’ family members and pastors.

Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary at Marian College in Indianapolis paid tribute to these people recently at their second annual Parents and Pastors Day on Feb. 23. (See a photo gallery from this event)

Many of the parents and important priests in the lives of the 18 seminarians at Bishop Bruté gathered for Mass and brunch on Marian’s campus that day.

Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general, was the primary celebrant of the Mass. Ten other priests, including clergy from the archdiocese, the Evansville Diocese and the Lafayette Diocese, were on hand as ­concelebrants.

Becky Cope, mother of seminarian Andrew Cope, attended the day for the second straight year.

“This is one of the times when we get to have fellowship with each other, to become almost like a family,” Becky Cope said.

“The seminarians are already a family. We’re kind of on the outskirts. But now we can meet with the other families and get to know the other seminarians a little bit better.”

Becky Cope and her family are members of Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood, where she serves as the parish’s coordinator of religious education and volunteer coordinator.

Andrew Cope, in his second year at Bishop Bruté, appreciates the support he and other seminarians receive from their parents.

“I think the most important thing to understand is that they will always be there to support all of the seminarians, no matter what happens,” he said. “They obviously love the Church enough to give up a child for it.

“It’s about support. It’s about praising God for the gift of vocations.”

Msgr. Mark Svarczkopf, pastor of Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish, knows the importance of families to seminarians from his seminary days and his time as a member of the faculty at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

“One of the things about seminary is fraternity,” Msgr. Svarczkopf said. “And one of the things that really does exist is the fraternity among the parents. My mom still hangs out with the parents of guys who went to [the former] Saint Meinrad College with me [in the late 1960s].”

Father Robert Robeson, rector of Bishop Bruté, thinks it is especially important in this day and age for a seminary to show its support for seminarians’ parents.

“Certainly, it’s not easy in our culture to make the commitment to study for the priesthood,” Father Robeson said. “Nor is it easy for the parents sometimes to accept or embrace the fact that their sons have a calling to the priesthood.

“So I think the parents get to see [in the Parents and Pastors Day] that the environment their sons are in is truly filled with joy and deep faith and a desire to grow, and that they’re happy in the seminary.”

Seminarian Tim Wyciskalla is in his second year at Bishop Bruté and appreciates how the Parents and Pastors Day makes the bond between home and school more tangible.

“It’s great for all of the people who are back home praying for us to come and see what it’s like for us to be here,” he said. “It’s their chance for them to come and see all of us in action. And it’s nice for us to be re-connected with home.”

Part of “home” for many of the seminarians is their parish and the support they receive from it.

Representing their home parishes during the day were many of the pastors and associate pastors serving those parishes.

Father Randall Summers is the associate pastor of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis, the home parish of Wyciskalla.

Father Summers was ordained to the priesthood less than a year ago. He remembers well the importance of support for seminarians from families and parishes.

“Sometimes you can get lost in school and wonder why we do what we’re doing,” he said. “And it’s nice to have these kinds of occasions to have your pastor be there for support … .”

Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was on hand during the brunch to show his support for the seminarians and their families.

“When I got the first notice of the cancer, I said, ‘God’s will be done,’ and I was offering it up for our seminarians and for vocations,” Archbishop Buechlein said with emotion in his voice.

“Let me tell you, chemo is everything they say it is,” he said with a chuckle. “But the prognosis is good.”

Some of the parents and priests on hand for the special day had in the back of their minds the day when the young men they came to visit are no longer seminarians but priests.

Mary Bedel, a member of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Enochsburg in the Batesville Deanery, enjoys getting to know the other seminarians who spend so much time with her son, seminarian Daniel Bedel, who is in his second year in the seminary.

“They’re really good friends with Danny. I think Danny has really found his niche in life,” Mary Bedel said. “And they’re just really nice guys, and it’s just really good to know them and pray for them.

“We feel that our future Church is in good hands.”

(For more information about the Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary, log on to www.archindy.org/bsb.) †