Last year Pacific Regional Seminary (PRS) in Suva, Fiji celebrating the 40th anniversary its foundation. The jubilee time ran together with the celebration of the Year of Faith and the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.
The Rector of PRS Fr. Michael O’Connor said 2013 was a year of special blessings. He said one of the principal signs was what may have been a record number of priestly ordinations.
There were 18 ordinations to the priesthood spread over dioceses and congregations.
Diocesan priests 11
Archdiocese of Suva (4); Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru (2); Diocese of Carolines (2); Diocese of Wallis and Futuna (1); Archdiocese of Samoa (1); Diocese of Tonga (1)
Religious and Institutes of Apostolic Life 7
Society of Mary (5); Vincentians (1); Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (1)
In the last seven years 82 priests have been ordained – an equal number of diocesan priests and priests for congregations.
Every one of these graduates has graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity accredited by the South Pacific Association of Theological Schools, and also a Bachelor of Sacred Theology, S.T.B. from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.
Fr Michael says PRS is grateful for the support of Bishops and Major Superiors who have continued to send personnel for further training, with the intention of their teaching for a time at PRS when they return after studies.
The establishment of a Regional Seminary was one of the first tasks embraced by the newly formed Pacific Conference of Bishops when it came into existence in the late 1960s. The third meeting of the Bishops in 1970 decided to ask the Archbishop of Suva to begin looking for land and in the 1971 meeting the decision was reached to start the seminary in Suva in 1972. The present site was develop during 1972 and early 1973 and in June 1973 the Pacific Regional Seminary opened on its present site at Suva Point.
Source
PRS :supplied
Image: PRS Supplied
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