When Mundelein Seminary hosted a Mass to celebrate the kickoff of the institution’s centennial celebration, scaffolding and other signs of construction were visible at the campus chapel because renovations were delayed.
In the months leading up to the Oct. 17 service, Rector John Kartje was disappointed by the delay, realizing the upgraded chapel would not be ready. .
But as the kickoff day drew nearer and the scaffolding remained, Kartje said he began to see the situation in a new light, and in some ways embraced it. Even after 100 years of ordaining priests and having become a prominent Catholic institution in the country, Kartje said the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary still has plenty of work to do in the years ahead.
“In some ways, it’s not only something that we’ve learned to tolerate, but I’ve even come to see that scaffolding as fitting,” he said during the Mass. “Another way to look at scaffolding is that it’s setting up a structure in which something new can grow, and I’ve come to see the scaffolding in that way.”
While the exterior of the building remained partly in pieces, the inside remained whole, and welcomed hundreds to the Sunday morning service Sunday. The Mass was led by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, D.C. He attended the Mundelein seminary, got ordained in 1973, and returned there later to teach.
Gregory is also the first Black cardinal appointed from the United States and is the archbishop of the archdioceses in the nation’s capital.
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, also attended the kickoff centennial celebration Mass and open house.
Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, had been scheduled to attend and deliver a letter from Pope Francis but wasn’t present.
Cupich read the letter, where the pontiff commended the seminary for its contributions to the Catholic Church over the past century.
“In October 1921, the seminary welcomed the first class of seminarians to its beautiful new campus, with its unique architecture, so expressive of the American spirit,” Cupich read from the pope’s letter. “The United States has been blessed by the ministry of thousands of alumni priests who studied on this campus. Where they prepared to serve God’s people in parishes across the United States and around the world over the last 100 years.”
Gregory delivered the homily, opening with an anecdote about Cardinal George Mundelein arriving in Chicago by train in 1915 to assume the role of archbishop. At the time, University of Saint Mary of the Lake had opened in 1844 by the first bishop of Chicago but was shuttered due to financial woes about 23 years later. It was billed, at the time, as the first institution of higher learning in the city, according to the seminary website.
Mundelein would go on to reopen the institution in 1921, moving the divinity school – one of the university’s original four schools – to the village that now bears his name. Officials explained that the seminary was designed to train more priests for parish leadership because the Chicago archdiocese had, at the time, received priests mostly from seminaries in St. Paul, Minnesota and Baltimore.
Mundelein “was a man who just exuded confidence,” Gregory said. “Yet I cannot help but to think…he had to have had some hint of trepidation.”
Like Pope Francis in his letter, Gregory spoke on the physical features of the seminary, “from its striking architecture to the national emblems that were proudly displayed,” and its mission.
“This seminary was to educate men to be servant leaders,” the cardinal said.
Once the Mass ended, there was a brunch, as well as campus tours as part of the open house. Some of the day’s schedule included an oral history of the institution presentation, a discussion on life at the seminary, and the showing of a vintage fire engine that Mundelein presented to the village. In Mundelein Hall, guests browsed photos and other artifacts that showed the planning of the seminary in its early days.
Over the next eight months, other centennial celebration events are scheduled to include Christmas music in December, a lecture series featuring Bishop Robert Barron in March, a Mass of healing for victims of clerical abuse and a celebration of Mundelein, both in April. The festivities are expected to be capped off with “Centennial Day” in June, featuring an outdoor Mass, a picnic and a concert, officials said.
While any centennial celebration may be seen as a significant milestone, Kartje said for Mundelein, it’s a time to reflect on the level of growth and influence both the seminary and the American Catholic Church have seen over the past century.
“Without just chest-beating overly, Mundelein has been a significant presence in the American church over the last 100 years,” Kartje told Pioneer Press.
He described the seminary’s 100 years as a little different from a “typical birthday.” To have the celebration mean anything, the seminary has to be grounded in its original mission going forward, he said.
“This isn’t a time simply to look back and say, ‘Gosh, wasn’t that wonderful,'” Kartje said. “Because in the 2,000-year history of the church, 100 years is kind of a drop in the bucket.”
Still, thousands of priests have come through Mundelein’s doors over the years. The Rev. Tom Franzman, dubbed the seminary’s de facto historian, arrived in 1964 and was ordained in 1970. With more than five decades of work, Franzman has been with the seminary for more than half its existence.
“I think [Mundelein] wanted the priests to be somewhat cohesive and come from a place he knew who the teachers were, what the structure of the program was, etc.,” Franzman said.
In1926, the seminary was the site for the International Eucharistic Congress, a Catholic gathering involving devotional ceremonies over several days. It was the first time the Congress had been held in the United States.
The next few decades, up to the present day, saw the seminary expand and open other schools in the area, and developed into a key player for not only the Archdiocese of Chicago, but for the global Catholic church, according to seminary history. It also changed its role in education over time, first serving as a way for students to both finish college and their theological studies. Today, it is essentially a graduate program for those interested in the priesthood.
“Everybody who comes to Mundelein has a college degree already,” Franzman said.
Gregory told Pioneer Press that in its first 100 years, Mundelein Seminary went from being an institution for Chicago to commanding a national and international presence.
“Its mission has expanded to include candidates for the priesthood from all over the United States and indeed from all over the world,” he said. “It’s grown in its capacity to help shape and form the pastors of the church.”
Kartje said he hopes the seminary can rise to the challenges of the 21st Century, noting that the world around the institution has changed over the years since it opened. The seminary must be mindful of social changes, or “human formation,” as he called it.
Kartje said it comes down to remaining “flexible.”
