Door to ambulatory at Sacred Heart
My journey with the Catholic Bible School of Michigan began last Saturday with a Day of Reflection. The new program is being held in three different cities in Michigan and over 120 people from these locations traveled to central Detroit to the Sacred Heart Major Seminary to begin the journey. Ten of the people from the Monroe group took a school bus to Detroit, placing finding the Seminary and the drive there in the capable hands of the bus driver. The Seminary is beautiful, four-story Gothic-style building located on 17 acres. It was built in the 1920s with the expressed purpose of educating men for the Catholic Priesthood.
Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit
This was my first time to visit the Seminary and I was struck by the dichotomy of the grounds and the neighborhood. The property is beautiful and well-tended, sitting like an oasis in the middle of a very poor, blighted, inner-city neighborhood. Compared to the buildings nearby, Sacred Heart is the only thing that remains in good condition. A reminder of the history and strife of the neighborhood is the statue of Christ in the grotto on the front lawn. In the summer of 1967, the Detroit race riots began just a few blocks away. On the second day of the disturbance, an African American housepainter jumped the fence and painted the face and hands of the statue black. While it was an act of vandalism, the seminary found it fitting to keep the black features on the white statue of Christ with arms out-stretched to symbolize Jesus' love for all races. The black paint remains to this day and the statue is known as "Black Jesus." The Seminary has also held multi-racial prayer services and other gatherings at the grotto to strengthen ties to the community in which it sets.
"Black Jesus"
While Sacred Heart is still dedicated primarily to the purpose of educating men for the priesthood (with 100 men in the program last year!), the school now also welcomes lay people (Catholic term for non-clergy) to study there to learn about their faith. This can take the form of regular college classes at both the undergrad and graduate levels. Our day there was different. We were not there for traditional classes, but instead to learn more about the program we were undertaking from a gathering of scholars.
Our day opened with a welcome by Deacon Jack Gardner. Deacon Jack is the director of the new program and he has a robust enthusiasm for this new venture. He also will be the program facilitator for our Monroe group's classes. I look forward to learning more from him. Morning presentations featured Dr. Peter Williamson and Ms. Cathryn Torgerson. Dr. Williamson, a 1972 convert to the Catholic Church, is a Catholic Theologian and is the Chair in Sacred Scripture at the Seminary. He offers Bible studies, is a noted author, and teaches Scripture at Sacred Heart. Ms. Torgerson is a lay woman who had a conversion experience after years away from the Church. She has since returned to the Catholic faith and later studied at the Seminary, where she earned a Master's Degree. She now offers classes, workshops, and seminars throughout the region. She will serve as the facilitator for the Canton program. (To learn about Cathryn's conversion, see her video on YouTUBE.) Both Williamson and Torgerson spoke about what can come from our experience of studying the Bible and what to expect on the journey. We also heard that this program is both an academic and spiritual study of the Bible. It will work into both our heads and our hearts. What stikes me about these two speakers is that they were both seekers like me, searching for answers. After their conversions, they have dedicated many years of their lives to learning more about God and now share what they have learned with others. I was also very impressed that the Catholic Bible School brought two such prominent presenters together for our inaugural day in the program.
Our morning sessions ended with a Mass at 11 o'clock. We all went to the chapel for the Mass, which was celebrate by Fr. John Riccardo, from Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Plymouth, MI. While the term "chapel" makes me think of a small, intimate sacred space, the Chapel at SHMS is not at all small. (There are about three times as many pews as show in the photo below. There are also two side aisles, not visible in my photo, with side altars in each.) It is a grandly sacred space, as large as many churches you may find anywhere. Our 120+ people did not fill even half of the pews. In his homily, Fr. Riccardo tied our undertaking to the story of the conversion of St. Augustine, whose feast day was celebrated that day. It added greatly to the message of the day.
Sacred Heart Major Seminary Chapel
After Mass we returned to our large meeting room for a hearty lunch. After lunch we broke down into small groups. Our group assignments are the same ones we will have for our on-going classes that will meet in Monroe each week. Most groups have a half-dozen members, and none of us knew each other before that day. As we embark on this journey together, we understand that we will grow to know each other very well, and will likely become close friends. It is was interesting to sit with these strangers that will be traveling on this journey with me. We each have a different past, but all share the same reason for joining this group. We are all seeking more knowledge about how God is speaking to us through the Bible.
In our small groups, we were assigned questions to answer. These questions were related to the reading assignment we had been given in the weeks prior to the event. The reading was a book: THE BIBLE COMPASS, a Catholic's Guide to Navigating the Scriptures, by Dr. Edward Psi. This book addresses several topics, but most importantly, the five keys to interpeting Scripture correctly (more about these 5 keys at a later time.) Our group did a fine job of working through the questions.
After group time we all rejoined for a final talk by Deacon Jack. This talk summarized the themes from the day and commissioned us to spread the message that we learn in Holy Scripture throughout the Church. It is the desire and prayer of the founders of this program that a spirit of renewal will spread from it to the Church at large. We then closed our day by getting our reading assignments for the first week of classes back in our host parishes (mine is St. John the Baptist in Monroe).
My group of ten then reboarded our bus for the trip back to Monroe. While we had taken the ride north as ten strangers, we all felt closer, having shared this experience together. The excitement and anticipation was palpable on the ride home. Our journey has begun!
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