Formation at seminary is praised during ‘Celebrate Bruté’ event
Archbishop Charles C. Thompson speaks on Sept. 17 before nearly 200 supporters of Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis. The “Celebrate Bruté” event took place on the grounds of the archdiocesan college seminary. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)
By Sean Gallagher
In the midst of a time in the life of the Church when questions are being raised about priestly formation in the wake of the current clergy sexual abuse crisis, nearly 200 people gathered on Sept. 17 to show their support for Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis.
The “Celebrate Bruté” event to honor the seminary’s supporters took place on the grounds of the archdiocesan college seminary. It is located about a mile south of Marian University where the 43 seminarians enrolled at Bishop Bruté attend classes.
Catholics from across central and southern Indiana came to Bishop Bruté, where nine dioceses send seminarians to be formed for the priesthood. Currently, the archdiocese has 13 seminarians at Bishop Bruté.
One of them is seminarian Liam Hosty, a junior at Bishop Bruté and a member of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis. He helped check in those attending “Celebrate Bruté,” and was encouraged to see so many supporters of the seminary that he calls home.
“It’s beautiful to see [the support] so tangible in the number of people here this evening,” said Hosty. “It can definitely be a challenging time.”
In his remarks to the people at the event, Archbishop Charles C. Thompson acknowledged the difficulties the Church is currently facing.
He noted that he was a participant in a recent meeting of the administrative committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop. The committee made plans for the bishops’ fall general assembly meeting in November in Baltimore where the current clergy sexual abuse crisis will be addressed.
“It was a very sobering meeting,” Archbishop Thompson said. “What impressed me, though, was the great hearts and great minds that are trying to get this right and to really address things. They’re very much shepherds of the Church.
“I think we’re doing some good things. We’ll move forward. I think it’s going to take a while to move through this and to heal. But I believe the Holy Spirit is very present and very much at work.”
He also believes the Holy Spirit is at work in the priestly formation happening at Bishop Bruté that involves what the Church calls the “four pillars” of formation: spiritual, intellectual, pastoral and human.
Among other goals, Archbishop Thompson said human formation at Bishop Bruté seeks to help its seminarians “cultivate a mature celibate relationship, fidelity to their commitments and a deep respect for the dignity of all persons.”
“The very core of this formation experience must be the ethos that honors and appreciates the dignity of every human person regardless of their differences,” he said. “You can be assured these four pillars are taking place at Simon Bruté.”
Father Daniel Bedel, pastor of St. Margaret Mary and St. Patrick parishes, both in Terre Haute, is a 2010 graduate of Bishop Bruté who spoke at the event, reflecting on how the friendships he formed contributed to the human formation he received there.
“I am incredibly grateful for the human formation that I received, the community of brothers that came together here,” Father Bedel said. “That was 10 or 11 years ago, but those friendships are going to last a lifetime.
“This place allows those friendships to begin so that we, as priests, can support each other. We, as priests, know that we can depend on each other and lean on each other and support each other, especially when things are hard, as they have been recently.”
Father Joseph Moriarty, Bishop Bruté’s rector, reflected during the event on how he sits at the back in the seminary’s chapel during many liturgies. Seeing its seminarians before him, he admires their striving for holiness and their dedication to discernment and priestly formation.
“In many senses, if we look around the culture, the Church is on fire,” Father Moriarty said. “And these guys are running in. They want to help. They want to be a part of something greater than themselves within the body of Christ.”
Larry Dougherty, a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Indianapolis, attended the “Celebrate Bruté” event and spoke afterward about the support he and his wife Mary have for the archdiocese’s future priests and its college seminary.
“We pray for the seminarians,” Dougherty said. “We pray for the priests. It’s very near and dear to our hearts. Simon Bruté is such a blessing for our archdiocese. It’s a tremendous facility. All the young men here studying for the priesthood are getting a great education to become great priests.”
(For more information on Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis, visit https://bishopsimonbrute.org.) †
