How to Engage the Culture

Rector's address prepares seminary for upcoming school yearand beyond.

Practically all schools, secondary and collegiate, have faculty orientation days as a new school year is about to begin. Sacred Heart is no different.

On Tuesday August 25, full and part-time faculty members attended an all-day spiritual retreat at the Solanus Casey Center in Detroit. Leading the retreat was Latinist and former Sacred Heart philosophy instructor Msgr. Daniel Gallagher. Since 2007, the priest from the Diocese of Gaylord has been working at the Secretariate of State in the Vatican, most recently in the Office of Latin Letters. Monsignor Gallagher has been granted permission by the Vatican to reside at Sacred Heart for a time to work on completing an advanced degree.

A long-standing tradition at Sacred Heart is for the rector to deliver a state of the seminary account on the second day of faculty orientation. On Wednesday, August 26, Msgr. Todd Lajiness addressed the full seminary community administration and staff includedon the topic Engaging the Culture: Friendship with Christ.

Monsignor opened his talk by reminding the community of the heroic witness of Fr. Solanus Casey, Fr. Michael McGivney, and Bishop Frederic Baraga. Three years ago, the rector presented these venerable—who will one day be canonized, God willingas spiritual guides to the Sacred Heart community as it looks toward 2019, the centenary anniversary of the seminary's founding.

Their hearts were strong, true, and welcoming, Monsignor said, and their example helps shape the way in which we fulfill our mission and form our students for a joyful life of ministry.

At the same time, Sacred Heart's graduates will be ministering in a culture that is increasingly toxic, reactionary, and post-Christian. To counteract a tumultuous society that is increasingly antagonistic to the Catholic worldview, Monsignor Lajiness proposed a modality of engagement that is balancedneither marked by a persistently negative view of the world nor undiscerningly accepting of everything, fearfully avoiding the proclamation of the truth of the Gospel.

The first element of such a Gospel-oriented engagement is the ongoing interior conversion of the message bearer. Friendship with Christ, Monsignor suggestedfriendship begotten by a renewed commitment to prayer as divine conversationis the fundamental element of living the New Evangelization first, before doing the programs that will bring about renewal of the spirit.

The peacefulness of heart that friendship with Christ engenders will help the new evangelist resist objectifying and de-personalizing culture. Instead, the activities of the New Evangelization will be marked by the patient and loving sharing of the truth, a truth that sets one free.

Monsignor Lajiness ended his address updating the community on institutional matters: enrollment, seminarian formation, endowment, communications, strategic planning, educational technology, and physical plant. He introduced new staff members and two new faculty members, Fr. Ryan Ford of the Diocese of Marquette and Fr. Clint McDonnell of the Archdiocese of Detroit. As former students of Sacred Heart, the priests were remembered fondly and welcomed with cheers.

You can download an audio version of Monsignor Lajiness's rector's address here, and a hardcopy version here.