Seven diocesan seminarians received degrees from the Pontifical College Josephinum during the 126th commencement exercises on Saturday, May 10.
Newly ordained Fathers Kevin Girardi, MDiv, MA magna cum laude, STB (honors TBA by Rome), Joseph Rolwing, MDiv, MA magna cum laude, STB (honors TBA by Rome) and Samuel Severance, MDiv, MA cum laude, STB (honors TBA by Rome) received graduate degrees. Columbus seminarians awarded undergraduate degrees were Justin Fagge, BA in Philosophy, summa cum laude;
Absalom Hall, Certificate of Completion; Dominic Ratliff, BA in Philosophy magna cum laude;
and Andrew (Ben) Van Buren, BA in Philosophy magna cum laude.
Fagge was named the winner of the Pinter Scholar Award, which was established in 1975 in memory of Rev. Msgr. Nicholas Pinter (Josephinum professor, 1902-1957) and goes to the College of Liberal Arts seminarian who has excelled in academic formation in preparation for service to the Church.
The graduating class also included seminarians from the Fathers of Mercy religious order; the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the Dioceses of Birmingham, Alabama; Jefferson City, Missouri; Joliet, Illinois; and Oakland, California; and a sister from the Apostolic Sisters of Saint John.
Bishop Earl Fernandes, vice chancellor of the Josephinum, celebrated a baccalaureate Mass in the seminary’s Saint Turibius Chapel. Concelebrants were Father Steven Beseau, Josephinum rector-president; the Community of Formators; and many visiting clergy.
“We send these graduates on to major seminary, into parishes as ordained priests, or into the world as religious educators,” Bishop Fernandes said. “We pray that, through the Holy Spirit, they have gained not only knowledge but also wisdom and understanding. That they have not only learned about God, but have come to know God.
“That the education received here opens up new ways of thinking, new ways of seeing the world, new ways of reading life experiences – all so that they can proclaim what they have seen and heard about the love of God come down to us as man in the person of Jesus Christ.”
After Mass, more than 200 guests joined seminary priests, faculty, staff, and seminarians in the Msgr. Leonard Fick Auditorium for Commencement Exercises. Bachelor of Arts, Certificates of Completion in Philosophical and Theological Studies, Master of Divinity, and Master of Arts degrees were conferred upon the seminarians by Father Beseau. The Josephinum, in affiliation with the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy, granted a Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology pontifical degree (STB) to four of the graduating transitional deacons.
Fagge offered an address on behalf of the Class of 2025, expressing gratitude for their time at the Josephinum, the strong sense of brotherhood and the “incredible faculty and great formators who are living examples of the plurality of the priesthood of Jesus Christ.”
Regardless of what path each man takes going forward, he said, “we will all be grateful for the work of the Pontifical College Josephinum in creating holy, generous, adaptable and resilient priests for the 21st century.”
Father Beseau acknowledged that days like commencement are seen and celebrated as the beginning of something new.
“For the formators and faculty who have been with these men for many years, there also is a tinge of sadness, because they have been a great part of our community,” he said. “Yet, it is a wonderful gift that we are here to commence these men to the next phase of their lives, and that sadness is overcome with the joy, hope, and love that mark this day.”
The commencement exercises marked the close of the seminary’s 125th year of forming priests for the Church. Graduating deacons of the School of Theology will return to their respective dioceses or orders to be ordained as priests, eventually joining more than 1,000 ordained alumni who currently serve the universal Church in nearly every U.S. state and in 18 countries.