The seminary of the New York Archdiocese, St. Joseph’s Seminary, is located in the Dunwoodie neighborhood of the City of Yonkers; hence it’s nickname, Dunwoodie.
Established in 1896, it had once been referred to as the West Point of seminaries. West Point, being, of course, where the United States Military Academy was located.
What would a seminary be like if it was really modeled after West Point?
These thoughts danced through my head during a recent visit to the West Point Visitors Center with its striking exhibitions about the Military Academy’s history, contemporary status, and what in a seminary might be called its “spirituality”.
The exhibition area proudly displayed the mission statement of the academy:
To educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.
Change a few words, and it could serve as a mission statement for a seminary too, since the seminary also is meant to be a place where (the church’s) “officer corps” are educated, trained, and inspired.
The seminary graduate also is commissioned (ordained) as a leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Church and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to his Diocese, Eparchy, or Order.
In the Military Academy, the student body is not like that of other colleges; it is referred to and treated as a “Corps of Cadets”. The cadets are educated, trained, and inspired as a collaborative group, not as elite individuals.
This means that shared responsibility and teamwork characterize every aspect of their experience. Like the Military Academy, the seminary is not meant to be a place for individuals to pursue their personal and individual goals and advancement.
The cadet experience includes the equivalent of military basic training and more, since their training continues over the course of four years.
Although seminaries usually do not have physical training as such, they traditionally had some rigorous demands and discipline with a tightly scheduled day that included when to arise, meditate, pray, eat, attend class, study, recreate, speak or be silent, be indoors or outdoors, and sleep.
The defining values of Duty, Honor, Country that are esteemed at West Point are its strength. The academy trains and tests men and women for leadership.
The seminary’s traditional strength usually has been more quality philosophical and theological education and less its developing of “esprit de corps”.
Training for leadership in country or church is not like running for office. It involves subordinating one’s personal desires and advancement to the common good, seeking to serve, not to be served.
However this doesn’t mean unthinkingly conforming and blind obedience. Professional excellence involves critical thinking and honest communication as well.
The West Point Visitors Center and nearby Museum exhibitions trace the history and development of the academy and even such things as the nature of warfare itself. They effectively explain, educate, and inspire.
West Point is a good model for a seminary!
26 September 2021