Diocese of Covington - Messenger at 402 E. 21st Street, Covington, KY 41015 US - A word from the Benedictines

Very Rev. Justin Matro

The Very Rev. Justin Matro, a Benedictine priest, is the seminary’s rector and also assistant professor of spiritual theology. He has been in leadership positions at the seminary for 15 years, the last two as rector.

The Benedictine charism is especially effective in the formation of new priests, he believes. The Benedictine “dispositions,” as Father Matro call them, — love of learning, desire for God, prayer, contemplation, stability towards a place — are qualities that the seminarians absorb from their experiences at st. vincebt and then take with them to their dioceses.

They learn a “vocation that’s geared towards real service to a particular community. They transfer that love of community, that love for the place, a reverence for the very land that they feel called to serve … they see themselves called, not just to be priests but called to be priests in that place.”

This sense of devotion is especially important for a diocese like Covington, “which has so many men wanting to serve it that are not native to the diocese,” Father Matro said.

Today’s seminarians, he said, are the “healthiest collection of seminarians I’ve ever seen … good, solid men who love God. Their quality is excellent, more mature, more serious, yet with a healthy playfulness and spirit.”

“Society is less friendly towards priests, and families promote (religious vocations) less, so the fellows that are here have overcome a lot of hurdles.”

Benedictine Father Edward Mazich, an assistant professor of biblical languages and systematic theology, is himself a graduate of St. Vincent Seminary (2000). This semester he is teaching courses in Greek and the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament.

 For him, a special feature of St. Vincent is the pervasive Benedictine spirit that permeates every aspect of the seminary and each seminarian’s preparation.

“We try to convey to the students not only through our lectures and our supervised practicums and other official classes but through the way we monks live together, work together, pray together as a community … what it means to be part of the Church, a community of believers united by their faith in Christ,” Father Mazich said.

Father Mazich noted a trend in recent years — more younger seminarians and more with greater variety of backgrounds in education, work experience, or spiritual development. The spectrum of students “adds strength to our seminary … different points to bear, different viewpoints.”

The seminary currently serves 15 dioceses and archdioceses, seven Benedictine monasteries and two other religious congregations. Students come from Uganda, Nigeria, Brazil, Canada, Korea, and Mexico, among others. The multicultural element is “very important in preparing future priests and pastors to have some experience and understanding of different world views,” Father Mazich said.

Father Patrick Cronauer, Benedictine, director of religious seminarians and professor of sacred Scripture and biblical languages

The monks offer a “powerful witness of community, common prayer and vow of stability which is important for a diocesan priest who may live alone in a future assignment.”

From the very beginning of St. Vincent, the monks have been concerned foremost with educating future priests and others who sought a solid Catholic education and serving the people in pastoral ministries,” Father Cronauer said. “Do our graduates have the heart, spirit and life of a priest? Do they have a love for the Church, both the people of God and the institutional Church?”

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