St. John's Seminary (California)

For other uses, see St. John's Seminary.

St. John's Seminary

Motto	Deus caritas est
Motto in English	God is love
Type	Private, Graduate
Established	1939 (1939)
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Chairman	Jose H. Gomez
President	Patrick Nichelson
Vice-president	Albert Bahhuth
Rector	Marc Trudeau
Dean	Richard Benson
Vice Rector	John P. Brennan
Academic staff	29
Students	96 seminarians (2014-15) 17 Lay (2014-15)
Location	Camarillo , California , USA 34.24308°N 119.005329°W / 34.24308; -119.005329
Campus	Suburban, 100 acres (40 ha)
Website	http://www.stjohnsem.edu/

St. John's Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary located in Camarillo, California. It is within the Santa Barbara Pastoral Region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The seminarians prepare for assignments in dioceses as well as religious orders.

History

The entrance to St. John's Seminary

St. John's Seminary began teaching seminarians on September 12, 1939. Juan Camarillo, Jr. donated 100 acres (40 ha) of land from his Rancho Calleguas on March 3, 1927 with the specific desire to have the land used for a seminary named for St. John the Evangelist. On January 14, 1938, John J. Cantwell announced the planned construction of the seminary. The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada first accredited St. John's in 1976; it had previously been accredited by the American Association of Theological Schools and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Beginning in 1961, St. John's granted bachelor's degrees through its subsidiary St. John's Seminary College. Following a 2002 report from a task force appointed by Roger Mahony, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles closed the undergraduate portion of the seminary. Only 12 seminarians graduated in 2002, and the Archdiocese chose to focus solely on graduate training. The task force also scheduled a 2005 review to see if St. John's should be entirely closed with Loyola Marymount University taking over the school's functions; this shutdown has not come to pass. The diocese agreed to sell most of the seminary's land, including the area used for undergraduate study, in 2004, for a price which was dependent on the sort of zoning approval the land would receive. The seminary now seeks to become self-sufficient rather than relying on the archdiocese's funding. Toward that end, they are seeking to have an area formerly used as an undergraduate campus developed into between 270 and 290 houses for people 55 and older.

Library

Carrie Estelle Doheny donated her rare book collection to St. John's Seminary in 1940. The collection was sold at auction in 1988-89.

Degrees

St. John's offers the Master of Divinity degree as a first professional degree for seminarians. If interested in theological studies and research, eligible seminarians can also concurrently earn a Master of Arts. The seminary offers a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry for non-seminarians who are interested in lay ministry.

Controversy

Sexual abuse

Alumni of St. John were accused in the sexual abuse scandal, which broke into public in the late 20th century, of molesting the underaged. Of the approximately 625 St. John's graduates to be ordained by the Los Angeles Archdiocese between 1950 and 2005, by 2005 65 had been accused in the sexual abuse scandal, reflecting a rate higher than what studies have found for U.S. priests in general. A seminary spokesman noted in November 2005 that California had extended its statute of limitations on molestation lawsuits, making more cases possible for prosecution. He suggested that a wave of publicity on molestation by priests had made St. John's graduates targets of such accusations. Four days later, the Los Angeles Times ran a letter to the editor from St. John's rector, Helmut A. Hefner. He said that substantial reforms had been implemented in the seminary in terms of recruitment and assessment of students. He noted that changes had been made; as a result, from 1985 to 2005, only two of the 155 priests ordained at St. John's Seminary for the Los Angeles archdiocese had been accused of sexual misconduct.

Homosexuality

In May 2002, Newsweek had article entitled "Gays in the Seminary"; it opened with a description by a recent alumnus of St. John's, saying it "may be one of the country's gayest facilities for higher education. Depending on whom you ask, gay and bisexual men make up anywhere from 30 percent to 70 percent of the student body at the college and graduate levels."

Notable alumni

Main article: List of St. John's Seminary (California) people

• William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith
• Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia
• Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles
• George Niederauer, Archbishop of San Francisco
• Tod Brown, Bishop of Orange
• Geoff Farrow, priest relieved of his congregation after denouncing California Proposition 8 from the pulpit
• Msgr. Francis J. Weber, archivist of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, and biographer of Archbishop John Joseph Cantwell, Cardinal James Francis McIntyre, and Cardinal Timothy Manning
• Bishop Jaime Soto of the Diocese of Sacramento
• Gustavo García-Siller, archbishop of San Antonio.
• William DuBay, ordained in 1960, but left the priesthood after challenging Cardinal McIntyre on race relations and other matters.
• Cirilo Flores, Bishop of San Diego.
• Cyprian Consiglio, O.S.B. Cam., Prior of New Camaldoli Hermitage

See also

• List of Roman Catholic seminaries
• Sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles

External links

• St. John's Seminary official website