Inaugural Mass presided over by Fr Javier Garcia, LC, the rector of the college.

November 30, 2009. On the feast of All Saints this past November 1st, the Maria Mater Ecclesiae Center for Priests began a new stage in its history by changing to a new location and by operating under a new name.

The center, at the service of diocesan priests from around the world who study in Rome, is now called the John Paul II Residential College for Priests, and it is now located in the very heart of Rome, close to the Piazza Navona and the Pantheon on Via Monte della Farina 64.

The new building, which belongs to the Holy See, was offered to the Legion to rent. Up until June, the building was the campus for the John Paul II International Seminary, which has then ceased operations.

For the spiritual enrichment of priests

The first activity to take place at the new campus was a concelebrated Mass presided over by the new rector, Fr Javier García, LC. In his homily, he commented on the significance of beginning this new stage on the feast of All Saints, saying that it is an assurance that they are not alone in their journey and that it is an invitation to continue walking on the road

	The "new" campus of the John Paul II College for Priests.

to holiness.

Shortly afterwards, the priests went on a retreat preached by Bishop Luigi de Magistris, the Major Pro-Penitentiary Emeritus. The retreat was a follow-up to their 8-day spiritual exercises in September at Castel di Guido, preached by Monsignor Juan Esquerda Bifet, who is the author of various books on priestly spirituality and the President Emeritus of the Apostolic Union of the Clergy.

The college, founded in 2005 at Castel di Guido, aims to offer priests a place for their ongoing spiritual, intellectual, pastoral, and personal formation in an atmosphere of prayer and priestly fellowship. According to its Statutes, which were approved by the Holy See, its purpose is to support bishops by offering an extraordinary means of formation for priests with the potential to make an outstanding contribution to their home dioceses.

The college currently houses 28 diocesan priests from Italy, Mexico, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Sri Lanka, China, Vietnam, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria.

For more information contact Fr Alex Yeung, LC at ayeung@legionaries.org or Fr Francisco Sunderland, LC at fsunderland@legionaries.org.