Fr. Bel San Luis Talks About DWST 50th Anniversary

SVD Seminary celebrates golden jubilee

by Fr. Bel R. San Luis, SVD
March 11, 2014 (Manila Bulletin)

The Divine Word Mission Seminary in Tagaytay City, where I did my noviciate and theological studies in the 1960s, is celebrating its 50th Anniversary on March 11-13, 2014.

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On March 9, 1963 the SVD Superior General John Schuette erected canonically the mission house in Tagaytay, and on March 12 the novitiate Fr. Antolin Uy, SVD, who wrote a wide-ranging, intensive history of the seminary, said that the main reason for the transfer of the novices and scholastics to Tagaytay was the lack of space at the Christ the King Seminary compound on E. Rodriguez Avenue, Quezon City.

Christ the King Seminary became the formation house of the high school and college departments, collectively called minor seminary. Eventually, the high school was phased out, leaving only the college seminary.

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Since its inauguration, the Divine Word Seminary has produced SVD and diocesan bishops as well as diocesan and religious-missionary priests.

It was not unexpected that Divine Word Seminary, located in scenic and cool Tagaytay overlooking Taal Volcano, would evolve into something like a central seminary, forming a cluster of autonomous affiliated houses of formation, 14 of them: 11 congregations and three from the diocesan clergy.

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In the last 50 years, Fr. Uy says, Divine Word Seminary produced 1,601 fourth year graduates. Of the 552 SVDs, 127 are now in foreign lands, e.g., 28 in the Americas, 25 in Africa and 25 in Asia. The 638 diocesan graduates is a sizeable addition to the country’s diocesan clergy. The religious congregations, some of them new in the country, still gained 411.

Later on new courses were offered like the Certification for Theological Studies which offers excellent courses in Scriptures and missiology and the Alternative Learning School (ALS) which enrols out-of-school youth.

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This school year, the Divine Word Institute of Mission Studies (DWIMS) is expected to boost the missiological slant of the seminary.  With its courses designed to broaden and enrich insights of “new evangelization” and “interculturality,” the institute hopes to attract professors and students of Asia Pacific Region to the country as well as members from different religious, missionary congregations, both male and female.

Due to its interconnection with the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas, DWIMS is scheduled to grant post graduate ecclesiastical and civil degrees in Missiology.

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The Divine Word Seminary was from the very beginning always considered a mission seminary parallel with Christ the King Mission Seminary.

In 1981, Pope John Paul II stressed the missionary calling of the Philippines: “I wish to tell you of my special desire that the Filipinos will become the foremost missionaries of the Church in Asia.” This repeats what Paul VI said when he visited the Philippines in 1970.

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The Divine Word Seminary with its new Institute of Mission Studies is a clear and concrete response to the wish of the past Popes.

“Fifty years is only a measure of time, but it is intimately connected with the missionary nature of Christ and his Church,” Fr. Uy concludes.