Thursday, August 11, 2016

GUAM RMS VS A REAL SEMINARY (PART II) THE ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

Posted by Frenchie


Today, we shall compare the Academic Programs of both the RMS Guam and St Patrick Seminary, where our priests used to be educated, prior to the take over of the vocations by the Neos, under failed Archbishop Apuron, and with the full participation of Pius, Quitagua and Cristobal.



St Patrick Seminary:

The academic curriculum of St Patrick Seminary and University teaches Roman Catholic Theology from an integrated perspective. The primary goal of the curriculum is to help the students bring together all the aspects of the formation with a view to readiness for pastoral ministry in the Church.
Thus all the theological courses incorporate the following themes.
  • The Church as the People of God
  • The Church as a community of Word and Sacrament, with a special emphasis on the Eucharist.
  • The role of the priest as minister of Word and Sacrament
  • The prophetic call to social justice and its implications for contemporary living
  • Ecumenism and the promotion  of understanding of and respect for other faiths.
  • The importance of family life and the dignity of the human person as the human basis for society.
  • The implications of living in a multicultural Church and World

These seven themes, which apply in all dimensions of the curriculum are interwoven throughout the students theological studies in order to provide a vision of the future and to help form priests with a truly "Catholic" vision of the world.




RMS Guam:

The Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Guam forms priesthood candidates holistically for the new evangelization in Guam, in the Pacific Region and the entire World. The Catholic Theological Institute for Oceania provides these candidates with their intellectual and theological formation.

This is the extent of the information provided on the RMS Guam. You have to go to the international site of RMS to find the following.

In the seminaries, the candidates for the priesthood find in their participation in the Neocatechumenal Way a specific element of their Christian formative itinerary and, at the same time, are prepared for a
"genuine presbyteral choice of service to the entire People of God in fraternal communion of the presbyterate.

Under the Catholic theological institute for Oceania, which is the cover institution, which is supposed to provide the education of said seminarians we also find the following.

The Philosophical and Theological studies will be carried out by the candidates at the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Catholic Theological Institute for Oceania, according to the Ratio Studiorum for the Seminary studies. Those disciplines and optional subjects that are most useful for the service of the new evangelization will be emphasized. The Catholic Theological Institute, Blessed Diego de San Vitores for Oceania is under the direct jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Agana.




 Saint Patrick Seminary:


The following Academic programs are proposed:

  • BA DEGREE COMPLETION
  • PRE-THEOLOGY
  • STB  (sacred theology Bachelor)
  • MA
  • M. Div
  • Pastoral year and Field Ed.
  • Language



The following Academic programs are proposed at RMS Guam

Philosophy:  " The cycle of Philosophy is equivalent  to a degree of Bachelor of Philosophy.
Theology:  " The cycle of Theology is equivalent to a degree of Bachelor of Sacred Theology (STB)"

Yet at the same time, you find in the conditional extension of the Affiliation of the Theological Catholic Institute for Oceania, to the Lateran University the following:

"Pro numere hoc Decreto ad alterum quinquenium contituit declaratque, collata Facultati potestate academicum Sacrae Theologiae BACCALAUREATUS gradum iis alumnis conferendi qui ,
praescriptum studiorum curriculum feliciter emensi. (can 250 C.I.C.)"

Which in English means: In stead of the number of this decree, declare appointed for another 5 years to the Faculty the power to confer the Academic degree of Baccalaureate of Theology to those who successfully pass the prescribed curriculum and the special exam. (canon 250 C.I.C.) (this was back in 2012, but we have strong indication that this was suspended after the visit of the Rector of the Lateran in 2014)


Comparing the two institutions, it is obvious that we are comparing apples and oranges.  Our so called seminary is only authorized (and this needs to be verified) to confer a Baccalaureate of Theology. ( which was already confirmed to Junee Valencia, when he was trying to figure out his options), while St Patrick Seminary and University is providing Pre Theology, Bachelor of Art, Bachelor in Sacred Theology, Master of Art in Theology and Master in Divinity.
They also propose a continued education program for the already ordained ministers, and have a full fledge language program.

Candidates for the priesthood graduating from St Patrick, come out for ordination with at least one Master in Theology or in Divinity or Both.

Candidates for presbyters graduating from RMS Guam (here we have to give them the benefit of the doubt that they actually graduated, in view of the opacity of the whole operation), come out for ordination with a Baccalaureate in Theology. Which means, that if they wanted to enroll at St Patrick they would have to continue to graduate for a Bachelor.

Sadly our failed Archbishop lied to us for years, in order to raise funds for his seminary, which in fact appears to be only a shell of an institution, where the poor seminarians are not studying much of anything. 

More to come.

22 comments:

  1. Dear Frenchie,

    Thanks for the comparison. Is it possible to detail the comparison by obtaining a list of courses taught at both St. Patrick Seminary and the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Catholic Theological Institute for Oceania? The themes covered and degrees offered, that you present above, help, but what about the coursework itself? Or even better, the syllabi? That is where the "meat" of the comparison can be found.

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  2. Dear Timothy this is coming up.
    The list of courses taught for St Patrick is readily available online.
    It is a total different matter in regards to the Catholic theological institute of Oceania. Almost all material has been removed since 2013.
    We have to rely on what we saved prior to that period and compare it with the few RMS that did not remove theirs, because it is required by their host diocese.
    Even then, you shall find that most of the content has been severaly curtailed in the last two years.
    This in turn begs to question why institutions of learning, which portray themselves as paragon of learning and keepers of an "originalist"approach to the liturgy, are so secretive about their curriculum, the material they use and the faculty itself.

    As you know, being a scholar yourself, any learning institution is always eager to commumicate about these issues.
    It would appear that this not the case for the Redemptoris Mater seminaries in general, but that RMS Guam might even be more extreme in this approach.

    The major question being: WHY?

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  3. An example of courses taught at RMS Guam, by a visiting NCW priest:
    Christ was a sinner who felt the mercy of his father.

    No more need be said about the lack of quality education those presbyter candidates get. Even our diocesan priest candidates get bombarded with that same crap. I understand the bishop of Samoa is so angered he is going to pull all the Samoan candidates from RMS Guam and ship them to a real seminary.

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    1. This is true. Recently, a farewell dinner was held in Agat for these Samoan seminarians seeking a true formation to and education for the priesthood.

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  4. Dear Frenchie f*** you

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    1. 3:45 PM, you child, that is all you can come up with? Attack the messenger with your limited vocabulary? You must be a product of that bogus seminary, aka presbyter factory and dumpster. If you cannot handle truth, go to a dark corner and cry your tonsils put, dear child.

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    2. Dear anon @ 3.45. While I might understand your preferences, and your obvious good taste, I will take a rain check on that one.
      That never was my cup of tea. Actually I do not even care for tea.
      In the meantime, sweet dreams.
      Joy

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    3. The "possessed one" again! Look up Exorcist in the phone book.

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  5. Does anyone know if this lack of quality education is specific to RMS Guam or if it is charastic of all of their seminaries?

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    1. Well, it appears that Guam is particularly bad. Other RMS seminary students usually have to attend their local diocesan seminary, beside their Neocatechumenal specific "education". Therefore while the vetting, curriculum and teaching level is generally below par, Guam seems to be at the bottom of the barrel.

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    2. Bottom of the barrel...but oh, what a view!!

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  6. Congratulations, Frenchie. NCW moves in secrecy with many questions, one of them is this. Thank you for your research!

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  7. Aside from non-compliance with their syllabi, of much concern is the availability of travelling "professors." Can a two-week seminar really qualify as a semester-long course? Furthermore, a real seminary has resident professors ready to assist students with questions both inside and outside the classroom settings. This was a forced institution plucked as a pie-in-the-sky obsession. It was motivated in part to churn out numbers rather than concern for the vocation of seminarians. In a way it was an injustice for young men who might have had authentic initial calling but were led down the road of perdition just to be part of that obsessive machinery. Ego, arrogance, greed and callous grasp of responsibility combined to make a perfect storm. Sad!

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  8. @3:45 p.m., so sad that you vocabulary extends to four letter word. It's so unbecoming of a Neo bred.

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  9. According to pius/cristobal/david VG/ Archdiocese terminated St.Patrick's seminary. Reported reason from pius cristobal given was the high turn out of gay priests being formed in St.Patrick's . Father Cristibal believed that st.Patricks allowed openly gay men to be ordainwd for Guam. pius/cristobal /david even named identified those they believed were gay. Interesting don't you think. !

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    1. Dear anon at 10.25, I addressed this issue in part I. It is because they made these allegations that I decided to do a side by side comparaison of both seminaries.
      Actually in order for these three to validate their putting forward of RMS as a "viable" alternative to St Patrick, which until then was the seminary where Guam's diocesan priests were formed; they first had to destroy and bismirch the reputation of St Patrick.
      It is interesting to note that it was the board of St Patrick who refused to endorse Cristobal for ordination due to poor academic record, and strong reservation about his character. How prophetic! It was our failed Archbishop and serial sexual abuser that did ordained and incardinated him despite the seminary warnings and lack of endorsement. It is then not difficult to understand Cristobal resentment of St Patrick.
      Msgr Quitagua also a graduate of St Pat was never a stellar Student even after he left St Pat.As for Pius what else can be said about this evil individual that has not been said already?
      These kind of rumors and innuendos fall right in line with what we have witnessed the last few years. What these three sad and caustic individuals did in regards to St Patrick's reputation is exactly what they did to the reputations of Msgr James, Fr Paul, Fr Efren a nd countless others.
      When your qualifications and/or reputations are not standing up to scrutiny, like for this evil triumvirat your only weapons are lies, spreading of rumors and vicious innuendos.
      This my friend is the demonstration of a very dark side, rather than a true priestly attitude.

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  10. 3.45pm wishing you Joy courage.

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    1. 3:45- wishing you celibacy lest you accidentally procreate

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  11. Yes, Putrid Pius has publicly said Saint Patrick's is 'full of gays". In fairness, the former rector has stated: "St. Patrick's Seminary is open to accepting gay students, asking many of the same questions that are asked about heterosexual students, Father Coleman says: "How mature is he? Does he have the capacity to live celibately?" Thought Benedict X vI didn't want that? Oh, well. What do I know I'm in retail. I've seen it mentioned hear that at the seminary, the seminarian sleep two to a room. That doesn't sound good to me. How can one pray and work with someone else in your room?

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    1. This is exactly because of issues regarding the mental balance of the candidates that St Patrick unlike RMS has a very thorough process of application which includes psychological profiling. See part I. This is exactly what the CCAB had recommended
      RMS pretends they follow these standards....if fact they do not.

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    2. Frenchie I believe there is a rigid process for entry into RMS:
      1. All applicants must pass the second line in the sand.
      2. Applicants MUST NEVER demonstrate a solid theological background in the Traditions of the Church.
      3. Applicants must demonstrate a lack of character and common sense.
      4. Applicants are encouraged to learn English, but it is not a prerequisite.

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    3. Lol Bruce!!!, good one, and so closed to the truth

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