St. John's Seminary students soon will be fanning out over Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties to contribute more than 30,000 annual volunteer hours of supervised field education. They will serve in crisis counseling, work with the homeless, the hungry, and with battered families, hospital and nursing home chaplaincies, detention faculties and jails, as well as in education and parish settings.

Pastoral ministry and field education are an integral part of formation for priesthood, said Msgr. Helmut Hefner, rector of the seminary in Camarillo. Service in the community followed by theological reflection is a key component of working towards a Master in Divinity degree.

"The students prayerfully reflect on their experiences from a theological point of view," said Msgr. Hefner. "How was God at work in this particular situation?"

Ongoing ministry allows seminarians to verify their vocation and enables faculty to assess a seminarian's pastoral and human capacity for ministry, he added.

First year theology students all serve in various nursing homes once a week and reflect together on common experiences. Second year students are assigned to various ministries such as answering phones at a crisis counseling center, teaching religion in high schools, or working with the poor in Catholic social service ministries or in detention facilities.

Following the second year, seminarians are assigned to serve 10 months at designated internship parishes trained to supervise the students.

"Students often come back with the idea of 'boy, I still have a lot to learn,'" said Msgr. Hefner as they begin their final two years of theological studies. Their final field education experience is to serve in hospital chaplaincy.

The St. John's Seminary program seeks to holistically integrate intellectual, pastoral and spiritual formation.

"The men realize that they are becoming pastoral persons with compassion and sensitivity to the people they are serving," said Notre Dame Sister Regina Robbins, director of pastoral formation and field education. "The academic and spiritual formation is not just for the seminarians, but so they can help others." Sister Robbins and Vincentian Father Miles Heinen, associate director, oversee the program.

This week St. John's Seminary begins its 66th year as the now-sixth largest graduate school of Roman Catholic theology in North America (there are 47 such seminaries). St. John's will train priests as well as lay leaders as 122 students begin a new academic year: 102 are seminarians; 20 are laywomen and men and religious sisters who are earning their master's degrees, including six in the new program Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry.

The largest number of students, 45, are from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The Diocese of Orange has 12 students at St. John's, and Monterey is third, with five students at the seminary. Although most will serve in Southern California following the completion of their studies, there are also students from the Caroline Islands, Samoa Pago Pago, Uganda and Washington State.

Their average age is 32 and many have had successful careers in the world of business, law, science, and the arts. Among the students, 34 percent have Asian Pacific Islander ancestry, 28 percent are Hispanic, 28 percent are White, non-Hispanic, and 10 percent are Black, non-Hispanic.

Prolific faculty

Three religious sisters, four laywomen, six laymen, one deacon, nine religious priests, and five priests from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles serve full time on the faculty. Outside the seminary they also assist in parishes and prisons on weekends, giving retreats and workshops, and writing articles and books.

Dr. Michael Downey, Cardinal Roger Mahony's personal theologian, is the most published member of the faculty; his latest, "The Heart of Hope: Contemplating Life, Awakening Love," was released last May by Pauline Books. Father Patrick Mullen's "Dining with the Pharisees," published by Liturgical Press, came out last November. Oxford University Press published Father Luke Dysinger's "Psalmody and Prayer in the Writings of Evagrius Ponticus" in June.

In view of the December premier of the feature film, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," Dr. Paul Ford finished a fifth edition of "Companion to Narnia" and the new "Pocket Companion to Narnia," both for HarperCollins. As a member of the Collegeville Composers Group, Ford recorded a CD and completed a music book: "Walk in My Ways," part of the group's 600 song collection, "Psallité: Sacred Song for Liturgy and Life" for the Liturgical Press.

Dr. Mark Fischer's "The Foundations of Karl Rahner" will be published by Crossroad in November. Crossroad will also release Dr. Keith Lewis's history of the Catholic Church in the new academic year. Father Ed Owens's commentary on the biblical Book of Deuteronomy is also due in the new year from the Liturgical Press.

In many ways, then, St. John's Seminary makes a contribution to the world far beyond its size.