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Curriculum at SHMS includes teachings of pope

DETROIT – Appreciating the treasury of teachings from Pope John Paul II doesn't have to come years from now – it can be found today in the curriculum at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, said Fr. Todd Lajiness, academic dean.

"The Holy Father has written a tremendous amount during, and before, his pontificate," Fr. Lajiness said. "I think, very much, we are in the initial stages of our study and understanding of what it is that our Holy Father was trying to give to us."

Fr. Lajiness is familiar with the works of the pope, having studied in Rome from 1990 to 1995, when he was at the Gregorian University. He was in Rome again from 1997 to 2002, when he served as secretary to Cardinal Edmund Szoka; at that time, he also completed his licentiate in philosophy and earned his doctorate.

He has been academic dean of Sacred Heart Major Seminary since 2002.

Studies on the Blessed Mother have always been part of the seminary curriculum, he said, and because the pope was so well known for his Marian devotion, more seminary students became more fully aware of her.

"It's not that the emphasis (on Mary) is different, but that we're more sensitive to the devotion to the Blessed Mother," said Fr. Lajiness, who referred to studies on Mary as "Maryology."

What the Holy Father has also done is "heightened the sensitivity" and knowledge of Mary.

Having named 2003 as the Year of the Rosary, as well as adding five new mysteries of the rosary says something about the pope's devotion to Mary. "What he's done is incredibly substantial," Fr. Lajiness said.

The great works of the pope also extends to his teachings on moral theology – just one reason youth were naturally drawn to him, he added. "He has continually spoken, in a prophetic sense, about the dignity of each human person from conception to natural death. He threads that through all of his writings."

Millions of youth have come to World Youth Day to hear the pope "speak clearly on the dignity of life and that as an individual, (youth) don't have to be a slave to culture or to be a slave to media."

What the pope said to the young people of the world is contrary to what culture wants them to believe. "What the pope has to say is real," Fr. Lajiness said. "True love comes from Christ and the Eucharist and in how we treat one another."

The Holy Father had a strong message for youth -- "to allow them to understand the beauty and uniqueness in Christ."

It's not easy to grow up in today's world, he said. "It's a vicious cycle," Fr. Lajiness said. "If young people don't perceive themselves to be perfect, then they understand that as bad. But if they are totally bad, they think they can never be good."

The teachings of the pope should be used "as a prophetic voice to evangelize," he said. "It's always my hope that though God's grace, this culture can be infused with the dignity of life."

In response to the call of the Holy Father to evangelize, Fr. Lajiness said, Sacred Heart Major Seminary also is awaiting approval to offer the licentiate in sacred theology (STL) with an emphasis on the new evangelization, and will be the only institution in the United States to do so, beginning in the fall 2004.

Sacred Heart Major Seminary was also the presenter of the "Vatican II on the Church" symposium at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., held Nov. 12-15, 2003. There, Fr. Steven Boguslawski, OP, rector-president of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, said, "The vast majority of the people we train have been profoundly influenced by the pontificate of Pope John Paul II.

"His unwavering witness to the dignity of the human person, from conception to the natural end of life, has marked a generation that is only now assuming its proper role in the Church and society."

Robert Fastiggi, associate professor of systematic theology at the seminary, said, "(Pope John Paul II) had a major role as a teacher in the seminary -- not from being there personally, but in many of our courses, his encyclicals are part of the curriculum, especially in moral theology, on the teachings of the Church. He plays a central role.

"And, also, in terms of giving an authentic interpret of what Vatican II taught. Also his own example of holiness and pastoral care in the whole Church. Already there is a corpus of (Pope John Paul's) writings which are very much being implemented in the seminary."

In addition, he said, "There are hardly any major courses in systematic theology which do not refer to the pope himself. He's a key figure in the curriculum of Sacred Heart Major Seminary."

-- Michigan Catholic reporter Joe Kohn contributed to this story.