CHARLOTTE — Two more graduates from St. Joseph College Seminary will begin formal studies towards priestly formation at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary at the Athenaeum in Cincinnati, Ohio, this fall.
Seminarians Christopher Brock and Peter Rusciolelli are the second set of seminarians to graduate since the college seminary was founded in 2016.
“I am very excited for my transition to major seminary,” Brock said. “I have heard many good things from my brother seminarians who have completed their first year at the Athenaeum, and I am excited to go and join them.”
Brock“I am looking forward to moving into my theology studies because it is a large step closer to my ordination as a priest,” said Rusciolelli. “It is exciting to see the reality come closer and closer so dramatically, as it will only continue to do so over the next couple of years. I look forward to going through candidacy, being installed as a lector and acolyte, ordained a transitional deacon – all for the end of following Our Lord’s call and, God willing, being ordained a priest.”
Both say the college seminary experience has been vital in preparing them for continued formation towards the priesthood.
“My time in college seminary has been instrumental in helping me to build character and grow in virtue, as well as recognize where my weaknesses are,” Brock said. “Academically, the education in philosophy I got in college seminary should provide me with the background and tools that I need to study theology.”
“Most importantly,” he added, “the spiritual formation I had in college seminary has helped me to develop good habits in my spiritual life, habits that I will need both as a seminarian and, God willing, as a priest one day.”
Rusciolelli said his time at St. Joseph College Seminary also helped him grow closer to Jesus, seeking His will above all else, and understanding that if we aren’t doing what He asks of us with complete trust and confidence in Him, we are “a resounding gong.”
‘All our efforts and all our successes must be through and for Him lest everything we do be a waste,” he said. “SJCS has helped me understand this.”
Formators at the college seminary have emphasized cultivating virtue, developing a prayer life, and becoming familiar with Church teachings, philosophy and Latin as building blocks towards their continued discernment of the priesthood and the goal of becoming a faithful priest who will serve the people of the diocese.
Rusciolelli“All the little daily practices in the college seminary schedule are directed at this end of building a strong and healthy foundation of a man,” Rusciolelli said, “capable of supporting a structure which rises high up towards heaven and bringing others with it.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter