On March 28, St Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate (SJJS) in Ho Chi Minh City celebrated its first Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology (STB) graduation after becoming affiliated with the Loyola School of Theology (LST), an ecclesiastical faculty of the Jesuits in the Philippines.
SJJS offers philosophy and theology programmes to Jesuits, religious from other congregations and lay people. The affiliation between SJJS and LST, which has the approval of the Congregation for Catholic Education, enables LST to confer the STB degree on SJJS graduates. Eight graduates, five of them Jesuits, were granted STB degrees while 22 were given certificates for the two-year philosophy programme. Two Jesuit brothers were awarded a Certificate in Theology.
The graduation ceremony was held after a thanksgiving Mass presided by SJJS Rector Fr Joseph Pham Tuan Nghia SJ. Fr Paul Nguyen Thai Son SJ, Prefect of theological studies, gave the homily based on Lk 17:11-19 during which he emphasised encounters: encounters between the mercy of God and sinners, grace and belief, wisdom and blindness. He said that intellectual formation should lead the students to an encounter between the mind and the heart. Having this as a starting point will further lead them to encounters similar to those the disciples of Jesus had: encounters with the wounded, the poor and those in need.
Speaking on behalf of LST, Fr Enrico Eusebio SJ, Chair of LST’s Commission on Affiliation, extended his best wishes and congratulations to SJJS and its graduates. He recounted how LST affiliated with Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan in the process of becoming an ecclesiastical faculty, and expressed the hope that “it will not be long before SJJS itself will become an ecclesiastical faculty”. Fr Eusebio also noted that the affiliation between SJJS and LST is being done “to favour inter-provincial and universal collaboration and exchange among Jesuit provinces … and to better prepare Jesuits who are both deeply rooted in the local cultural context and available for the universal mission of the Society”.
Likewise, Fr Nghia acknowledged the milestone that SJJS has achieved. He expressed his gratitude to Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ and Fr Arturo Sosa SJ, former and current Superiors General of the Society of Jesus. He also thanked Fr Daniel Huang SJ, Regional Assistant for Asia Pacific, LST faculty and staff, former Vietnam Provincial Fr Joseph Pham Thanh Liem SJ and all those involved in the affiliation process between the two institutions.
Fr Nghia said that SJJS aims to educate its students in the faith, sustain personal theological growth and assist in the effective empowerment of all who desire to serve the people of God by ministries in and of the Church. “This close collaboration and friendship between St Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate and Loyola School of Theology makes us even more effective instruments of God in carrying out our mission of forming men and women in theology and pastoral ministry in order that they themselves may serve generously in any frontier they might be called to serve by Jesus, our Lord,” he said. He hopes that in five to 10 years, SJJS will be instituted as an ecclesiastical faculty by the Holy See.
The scholasticate currently has 27 Vietnamese (17 Jesuits and 10 non-Jesuits) and many foreign professors among its faculty.