Meet the Rector

People have been asking me how the seminary works in terms of structure, organization and community. Every now and then I'll try and introduce you to some of the people who are part of the community here.

One of the first people I'd like to introduce you to is Msgr. Peter Vaccari. Father Peter was appointed Rector of the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception on June 24, 2009. Msgr. James McDonald - another good and holy man - who was the Rector here since 2005 was appointed Pastor of St. Aidan's in Williston Park. Father Peter has been a professor of Church History since 1988. I don't know everything about him but can tell you he's a dynamic teacher, a tremendous spiritual director and has made a real difference in the lives of many of the seminarians who have lived here over the past twenty years. (I had him as a professor before and have him this semester - there's no one more excited about Church history...trust me! In fact he's taking us to the Holy Land this Winter break so we can more powerfully understand the times of the early Church. If you're interested in being a part of that so the right hand column.)

The role of the rector is to lead the seminary community on a number of levels and in a number of ways. In some ways, I guess you can say he is the Pastor of our community here as well as the Principal, chief administrator, encourager-in-chief , mentor, and much, much more. And on top of all of that, he's a really nice person who makes himself available, approachable and is so generous with his time and energy. When you talk to him, you have no doubt you are being listened to with great respect and reverence.

I write about him today because we had our second Rector's Conference this morning. Each month, the rector meets with the seminarians to share some insight, direction, teaching and/or encouragement. Today, Father Peter talked to us about Pastores Dobo Vobis a document by Pope John Paul II on the formation of seminarians. We were asked to really consider what it means to live in community in the seminary - what we bring to it, what challenges we face, and what, individually and collectively, we can do to improve the community life here at the seminary. I never fail to leave a meeting with Fr. Peter without somehow being called to be a better person. So that's one of his jobs to constantly encourage and challenge us to really reflect on what we're doing here at the Seminary and even what we, collectively, can do better so that we leave here well prepared and well formed for life beyond the seminary.

Rector or not - he's a pretty impressive person and someone I wanted you to meet! (And I'm pretty sure that he does not follow this blog - so this is genuine post I assure you!)

P.S. Check out the new seminary website at icseminary.edu. I promise to post up some pictures of the Seminary this week....for now check out the site.