The 86 priests came from 35 countries.

August 10, 2009. Rome, Italy.  Every year, the Legion’s Sacerdos Institute offers an international course for priests who work as seminary formators in their home dioceses around the world. This year’s course took place from June 25th to July 30th in Leggiuno, Italy, gathering 86 priests from 35 countries.

The course attendees hailed from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, the Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Haiti, Holland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, the Ukraine, the United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

In spite of the differences of language and culture, the priests who gathered for the course had much in common: their mission at the service of the universal Church is an extraordinarily important one, and each of them has been entrusted with a great responsibility to form the future

	Formators who participated in the international course.

pastors of Christ’s Church.

The participants included 25 seminary rectors, 10 vice-rectors, 16 spiritual directors, 2 vocations directors, and 33 formators with various responsibilities in their seminaries. About 5,000 seminarians are touched by the work and prayer of these seminary formators.

The course began with 8 days of Ignatian spiritual exercises, preached by Fr Nivardo Quezada, LC, followed by a series of talks on various areas of priestly formation, from spiritual and character formation to aspects of intellectual and apostolic formation. The talks were given by Fr Francisco Mateos, the director of the course, Fr Roberto González, Fr Michael Ryan, Fr Anthony Bannon, Fr Owen Kearns, Fr William Brock, Fr Jesús Villagrasa, and Fr Paolo Scarafoni.

Several specialists were also invited to share from their area of expertise. Monsignor Tony Anatrella, a French priest and consultant of the Pontifical Council for the Family and of the Pontifical Council for Health; Don

	Some formators enjoying a moment of conversation during a break in the schedule.

Mauro Gagliardi, an Italian priest and professor of Christology in the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum College, and Monsignor Giovanni Vaccarotto, who is a judge of the Roman Rota and also a professor at the Regina Apostolorum.

The International Course for Seminary Formators has been offered every year since 1991, attended by a total of about 1,400 priests from 93 countries and 520 dioceses over the past 19 years. This year’s course took on special significance during the present Year for Priests as a concrete contribution that the Legion of Christ is able to give to the universal Church.

For more information about the Sacerdos Institute and its retreats, courses, spiritual exercises, and pilgrimages, visit the web page at www.sacerdos.org/english.

To learn more about the Year for Priests and to view articles, videos, testimonies, and links on the topic, visit our special section on the Year for Priests.