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ST. VINCENT FERRER SEMINARY
WHO WE ARE
Our Vision
- Servant leaders of the community
- Integrated young men armed with virtues and values with Christ as their center
- Apostolic proclaimers of the Gospel and Contemplative pastors for the community.
Our Mission
“Behold, the womb.”
Saint Vincent Ferrer Seminary has given birth to thousands of priests and gentlemen; good servant leaders, integrated, Christ-centered, apostolic, and contemplative priests and men. We see the seminary as a womb where formation begins as her infant enters the priestly life.
Surrendering to the call of the priestly ministry means surrendering to formation in order to adhere to the demands of our vision, to seek the truth, integrity, and most importantly, Jesus. These are all supported by the Pillars of Formation: Community Life, Academic Life, Spiritual Life, and Apostolic Life- all underlined by Human Formation.
Saint Vincent Ferrer Seminary is the Minor Seminary of the Archdiocese of Jaro. It is a formation house for those who are initially answering the call to the priesthood. The purpose of this seminary is to assist the human and Christian growth of adolescents who manifest the seed of vocation to the ministerial priesthood. It develops interior freedom by which they can respond to God’s plan for their lives. Thus, to fulfill its sole and primary function to train and form those who are to be ordained to the sacred ministries in the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of Jaro.
Its duties and the seminary administrators
The seminary must therefore constantly “discern the suitability of him who desires to enter the seminary, and call him to holy orders if he is judged to possess the necessary qualities” by the Seminary Administration.
The Seminary Administration includes all priests assigned to the seminary as;
Rector – Currently Rev. Fr. Julius G. Jacobres.
Prefects of Discipline:
of the Junior High School – Currently Rev. Fr. Maynard B. Balofiños
of the Senior High School – Currently Rev. Fr Paul Patrick A. Alipao
of the College – Currently Rev. Fr. Joe Marie D. Villalobos.
Spiritual Director – Currently Rev. Fr. Reynard O. Tubid.
Dean – Currently Rev. Fr. Bunnie Reydel T. Ambao.
And Procurator – Currently Rev. Fr. Gremar S. Lacson.
And other priests or professors, specifically assigned in the seminary in a stable basis by the Bishop of the Archbishop of Jaro, Most Rev. Archbishop Jose Romeo Lazo.
Seminary Formation
The Seminary Formation consists of three things:
- To identify and nourish the initial signs of vocation to the priesthood.
- To prepare the candidate to a life of service in the church in the priesthood.
- To protect the vocation to the Priesthood.
The seminary follows the CASA-H Formation Program. CASA stands for Community Life, Academic Life, Spiritual Life, and Apostolic Life. The first letters of which, consist the program’s name.
Spiral Formation, Curriculums offered
Humanum Esse per Scientiam et Rationem ad Fidem.
To be human through Science and Reason towards Faith.
The Seminary is where future priests are educated, as shepherds and collaborators with the bishop in the work of shepherding. The program of formation includes different stages of growth elements over to the various stages, differing only in degrees of emphasis. It does not leave off an element or elements as over and done with. The program is spiral and not cyclic because it moves forward to a goal and does not remain the same in an endless cycle. The seminary and the formation recognizes growth of the individual who progresses towards maturity.
Education at Home and Elementary Education, Developing Human and Intellectual Virtues. (Humanum Esse).
This is where most of us say where the formal education of the child starts. In their elementary years, they learn basic lessons needed for professional life such as the basics of reading, writing, speaking, counting, etc., basic skills for higher learning. These are important stages of learning because philosophical reflections come from a well-equipped mind. The seminary builds up from where the elementary education left.
Junior High School Curriculum. (per Scientiam)
To begin with, the seminary emphasizes that the Junior High School department of the seminary is not a reformatory house but a Formation House. Human virtues formed at home are developed in this department. As candidates enter the Junior High School Department, they will be initiated to the seminary life by a new kind of education – education in excellence. Here starts the Basics of Formation: Structuralizing formation which includes schedules and written rules. Here, external structures are set to aid conscience, to set expectations in behavior, and to train the will.
Senior High School (and Pre-College) Curriculum. (et Rationem)
The Philosophy Department is the heart of St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary Education. It is the stage of rigorous reflection and philosophical research, and where it aims academically at producing original thinkers. Philosophy is first introduced to the Senior High School Curriculum. The curriculum is also characterized by a greater degree of personal initiative, a deepening of spiritual life which provides positive motivations for educating the conscience, a deepening of the Formation through reason, and the training of the intellect/mind.
Junior or Senior High School graduates, coming from outside the seminary, enter the seminary as Grade 11 and Pre-College Seminarians respectively. They will be introduced to the Seminary Life, enabling them to discern if the priesthood indeed is the life that they’re called to live.
College Curriculum. (Ad Fidem)
Philosophy is the primary focus in this curriculum. The seminarians properly enter the world of Reason, learning the philosophical texts of the Scholastics and St. Thomas Aquinas. They are introduced to Husserl’s Formal and Transcendental Logic, and go into deeper reflections with Husserl’s Transcendental Ego and Heidegger’s Being and Time, learn different philosophies such as Theodicy (Philosophy of God) and Metaphysics (Philosophy of Being).
But Philosophy is never enough and reason falls short of what it proposes to reach. Genuine rational search for truth always leads to faith. Theology is a necessary complement to philosophical studies. As such, the college curriculum also has its emphasis set on spirituality; identifying or addressing blockages, clarifying and purifying motivations and further providing positive motivations. Training the Spirit and the Heart.
The Seminary Formation of Conscience consists of the; Formation of the Will (Discipline), Mind and Reason (Study/ Reflection), and of the Spirit and heart (Prayer and Discernment). In the process of formation, it is necessary that the seminarian should let himself be known, relating to the formators with sincerity and transparency. The seminary community is a family, marked by an atmosphere that favors friendship and fraternity. Such an experience helps seminarians understand better the demands, the dynamics, and also the problems of families entrusted to their pastoral care in the future. In this respect, the Seminary community opens itself up to welcoming and engaging with various groups, families, consecrated persons, young people, students, and the poor.
Our Community/People
Admin
Faculty
Personnel
Staff
College
Pre-College
Senior High School
Junior High School
SVFS envision priests of the 21st century as servant leaders of the community, integrated young men armed with virtues and values with Christ as their center and apostolic proclaimers of the gospel and contemplative pastors for the community.