QUEENSLAND’S seminarians will now study theology alongside teachers, nurses and students from other professions as part of ongoing changes in formation for the priesthood.
This follows the integration of St Paul’s Theological College with the Australian Catholic University (ACU) campus at Banyo in Brisbane on January 1 this year.
The change means that the ACU is now the primary higher education body for teaching theology for the Catholic Church in Queensland.
Former St Paul’s Theological College president and now assistant head of the School of Theology within the university’s new faculty of theology and philosophy, Fr David Pascoe, described the new arrangement as a “significant change” and as “an excellent development for all concerned”.
New rector of the Holy Spirit Seminary Monsignor Tony Randazzo also hailed the change for allowing “cross-pollination of ideas” between the seminarians and the broader public, adding that it was “consistent with the tradition of classic Roman seminaries”.
“Having access to the resources of a national university will enable theological education to be delivered in a much more integrated way,” Fr Pascoe said.
“These resources include online education facilities, libraries and most importantly access to a larger pool of theologians.”
The seminarians’ theological education had once been solely under the direction of the Queensland bishops through Pius XII seminary and St Paul’s Theological College, he said.
“Now the Queensland bishops will be represented on an ACU advisory committee for the faculty.
“In this way they will maintain their oversight of the theological dimension of the seminarians’ theological formation.”
Fr Pascoe said the bishops had initiated moves toward the amalgamation of the college with the ACU about three years ago with then vice-chancellor Professor Peter Sheehan.
Msgr Randazzo said the amalgamation represented “a very positive new direction for theological education in Queensland”.
“The cross cultural, cross pollination of ideas that results can only be positive,” he said.
Msgr Randazzo said the studies would be carried out in the “framework of the good strong Catholic tradition that is offered by ACU”.
“As in the classic seminaries of Rome, elements of the academic program for the seminarians are being outsourced.
“However, the seminarians will return to the seminary for other key parts of formation studies.”
