Sep 29, 2015
by MOSAIC Editorial Team
The new academic year always opens the day after Labor Daythis year on September 6but the spiritual opening of the school year always begins at the Mass of the Holy Spirit.
The congregation witnessed a moving and important ritual during the Mass of the Holy Spirit. Dean of Studies Fr. Timothy Laboe called new faculty members by name to approach the altar. Monsignor Lajiness placed before them the book of the Gospels. Laying a hand upon the book, each faculty member, full-time and part-time, recited a Profession of Faith and a complimentary Oath of Fidelity.
The Holy See requires both pledges of teachers of theology and philosophy in seminaries and teachers in any universities whatsoever who teach disciplines pertaining to faith or morals. The pledges are in keeping with Canon Law 833 and the 1989 directives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Profession of Faith is an expanded version of the Nicene Creed, wherein the faculty member accepts everything definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals, while giving religious submission to the authority of the pope and College of Bishops. The Oath of Fidelity asks of a person assuming on office to be exercised in the name of the church to always preserve communion with the Catholic Church and to hold fast to the deposit of faith in its entirety.
Making the Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity this year were Fr. Ryan Ford and Fr. Clint McDonell, both alumnus of the seminary. Father Ford of the Diocese of Marquette will serve as a seminarian spiritual director and be part of the formation team; Father McDonnell of the Archdiocese of Detroit will be a faculty member in the College of Liberal Arts and also be a member of the formation team. Joining them at the altar to make their pledges were Mrs. Ida Jones (adjunct), Fr. Libor Marek (adjunct), and Director of Libraries Mr. Christopher Spilker, who is now part of the full-time college faculty.
MOSAIC Editorial Team