On the weekend of the 23rd to 25th August 2013, Pacific Regional Seminary of St. Peter Chanel in Suva Fiji will celebrate 40 years of its existence.
A good representation from the various dioceses and congregations is expected to attend. These include diocesan priests from Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia and Kiribati as well religious from the same areas. There will be some coming who did not reach ordination but who still greatly value the experience of training at Pacific Regional Seminary. It is hoped that some of those present will include the Bishops and Archbishops who are former students of PRS.
Because this is the 50th anniversary of Vatican II and also the Year of Faith, the weekend in August will be focused especially on the Vatican II documents on the ministry of Priests and on formation. These will be part of an ongoing series of lectures which have run through this year on the documents of Vatican II.
The Pacific Regional Seminary was the fruit of the Vatican II’s emphasis on building up the local church and of the Vatican II structure of the Conference of Bishops. The first Plenary session of the Bishops’ Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC) took place in 1968. By the time of the third meeting in Sydney in 1970, serious consideration was given to establishing a regional seminary for the Pacific and a decision was made at the same meeting.
Suva was the chosen site and Archbishop George Pearce (Archbishop of Suva) was entrusted with the task of purchasing a site and putting up the buildings. A temporary site at the Bishop Court close to the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart opened on 6th March 1972 and was used for the first eighteen months.
Eighteen students – religious and diocesan – from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa started in 1972. But by June 1973 the new site and buildings at Suva point were opened with another seven students added to the numbers. Within 8 years, by 1980, the number of students reached beyond 100.
Source
- PRS
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