Monsignor Luke Sweeney, S.T.L., is the dean of seminarians and professor of Catholic social teaching at St. Joseph’s Seminary. We spoke with him about the next generation of priests, the upcoming comprehensive exams at the seminary, and how we can respect God’s creation
The Good Newsroom is celebrating St. Joseph’s Month by speaking with professors at St. Joseph’s Seminary, the major seminary for the Archdiocese of New York. St. Joseph served as the earthly father and teacher to Jesus during his youth and his apprenticeship in carpentry. He sets an example of work ethic that can still be followed today. We spoke with Monsignor Luke Sweeney, S.T.L., about the next generation of priests, the upcoming comprehensive exams at the seminary, and how we can respect God’s creation.
The Good Newsroom: St. Joseph was the earthly father, along with being a mentor to Jesus. How do you try to serve as a mentor to those who come to you in need of one?
Monsignor Luke Sweeney: We know that Jesus, although God, grew in his humanity. Saint Joseph would have been able to share his experiences with Jesus by word and action. For instance, Saint Joseph would have demonstrated to Jesus how he did things and the growing Son of God would have seen how his foster father related to others, beginning with Blessed Mary at home. Having served as a priest for 25 years, I hope that sharing my experience of priestly ministry and the stories of people the Lord has placed in my life, and by living together in the seminary community, the next generation of priests will be better prepared for ordination and the blessings that await them in this crucial life for the Church.
What are the most common questions you receive in your beginner course for Catholic Social Teaching?
Catholic Social Teaching seeks to take how God responds to fallen humanity with his compassion, power, and salvation, and bring that to all peoples and communities to help foster a Civilization of Love. An important theme that undergirds questions in class is how do we take the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, the dignity of every person, concern for the common good, addressing issues at the lowest possible social level necessary, and solidarity that is meant to bind us together in the human family, and apply them in each situation that arises. The challenge is how to take who we believe God to be and how He acts and incarnate this charity, truth, and mercy in the concrete lives of those we meet today.
READ: The Reverend Richard Veras, M.A., Associate Professor of Homiletics
How do you balance focusing on tradition while also working to expand what your students teach from the pulpit?
Our third-year configuration (theology) seminarians are preparing for their comprehensive exams. It is our hope at St. Joseph’s Seminary that future priests be grounded in God’s Word, in the Sacred and living Tradition of the Church, and a true communion with the successors of the Apostles, the Bishops. With that rootedness in Jesus Christ through His mystical Body, the Church, we want them open and encountering all peoples in the joys and sorrows of their lives.
In our course, Influential Catholic Voices, we see that our Catholic Tradition is to always take up the living fullness of Christ in the Church and to reflect anew on Jesus for our times. With a good spiritual life, the future priests should be able to take the faith we profess and live and in the Holy Spirit offer a living word applicable to the People of God today, complemented by the witness of a life that Jesus Christ is Resurrected.
Care for God’s creation in all its forms feels like the backbone of many of our social teachings. How do you try to instill this belief in the classroom?
The whole of creation is a gift from God, meant for each and every human person. We are not alien to creation, but God gives us His image to be good stewards of this blessing, and to develop and work creation. At the core of Original Sin is a lack of understanding of the gifts God bestows and that we are meant to receive them with trust and thanksgiving. Sin is about taking, grasping, and failing to believe in the goodness of God our Father.
It is my hope that our future priests help widen and lift up the horizon of society when it thinks of creation: to see God’s goodness for all, our unique and important role, and that the Lord’s gifts are meant to be received, cultivated, and developed and passed along to the next generation. We could say that is the goal of our living faith, too, receive it, live it, bear fruit and hand it on to the next generation until Christ comes again!