On April 15^th, the College celebrated its largest Rector’s Dinner to date when over 440 guests gathered at its Janiculum Hill seminary to honor the Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan and the Honorable Francis and Mrs. Kathleen Rooney with the 2010 Rector’s Award.

In addition to the many Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and Curial Officials in attendance, the College was honored to have the distinguished presence of several Ambassadors and international diplomatic representatives from the United States, Australia, China, the United Kingdom, Chile, Russia, Croatia, Portugal, the European Union, and the Sovereign Order of Malta; over 50 members of the Papal Foundation; the head of the Swiss Guard; and numerous friends, benefactors and alumni of the College.

During the evening, guests enjoyed traditional Italian fare and lively entertainment provided by the seminarians, which included Barber Shop Quarter and Doo-Wop renditions of American popular music from the 1950s and 1960s.

After accepting the Rector’s Award, the recipients imparted words of wisdom and inspiration.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan spoke with great humility and thankfulness, as he reflected it was “already award enough” for him to have served for so many wonderful years as Rector of the North  American College and, thus, to have played a direct role in training seminarians for future leadership in the Catholic Church in the United States.

Ambassador Francis and Mrs. Kathleen Rooney spoke about their personal fulfillment in helping the College to flourish in its mission of priestly formation and joy of having witnessed so many fine young priests who had been trained in Rome.

We thank you again for joining us and look forward to seeing you on May 5, 2011 at the nineteenth annual Rector’s Dinner!

Arrivederci e alla prossima!!

Please feel free to download and share the photos of the 2010 Rector’s Dinner found on these pages (click here to view the full selection of photos).

We also encourage you to access our benefactors’ web links found at the bottom of this page.

Accademia di Lingua Italiana di Assisi

Acton Institute

Capturator S.r.l.

Cathedral Candle Company

Catholic Daughters of the Americas

Church of St. Mary

English Martyrs Parish

EWTN

Fourth Dimension Italy

Grassinibus a.r.l.

Great Lakes Advisors, Inc.

Green Line Tours

Hotel Invest Italiana S.p.A.

International Tours Centre S.r.l.

Marymount International School

Ristorante La Vittoria

Ristorante Cecilia Metella

Ristorante Rinaldi al Quirinale

Ristorante XII Apostoli

Ristorante Venerina al Mascherino

Rohn & Associates Design, Inc.

Seven Hills Travel

St. Philip Neri House

Suprema Appalti S.r.l.

Timeaway di Travelwise S.r.l.

Trianon Residence Borgo Pio

Vincenzo Serpone S.r.l.

William H. Sadlier, Inc.

Archbishop Rodi reminded the acolytes of the contemporary challenges to faith, as well as the central role of personal witness and authenticity in the exercise of priestly ministry.  He encouraged them to take up the challenge “to bring Christ to others and others to Christ.”   The ritual for the installation of acolytes includes the prayer: “Take this vessel of bread for the celebration of the Eucharist. Make your lives worthy of your service at the table of the Lord and of his Church.”

Photos from the installation

CNS: Turf’s Up: Clericus Cup starts 4th season

CNS Story: US Seminarians begin Lenten pilgrimage to Rome’s ancient churches

by Patrick Arensberg ‘12, Archdiocese of Mobile

This past summer, Victor Ingalls ‘12 (Mobile), Colin Wen ‘13 (Sacramento), and I had the unique op- portunity to spend six weeks in China – working with Catholic missionaries and learning about the culture, the people, and the relationship between them and the Catholic Church. We were hosted by Maryknoll priest Father Brian Barrons. He had planned for us to help him teach English at the Medical College in Jilin, a city in northeastern China. However, due to the H1N1 flu pandemic, the Medical College cancelled our teaching assignments a week before we were to arrive. Though unsure as to exactly how our time would be restructured, he expressed trust in divine providence and invited us to make an act of trust. As Father Barrons put it, “We will trust in God and see what happens.”

When we met Father Barrons in Beijing, we discovered that we would go to Hong Kong for four weeks, where we could operate more freely, and then head up to Jilin for the remainder of the time. In Hong Kong, we stayed at the Maryknoll retreat house in Stanley. There we learned from other Maryknoll priests and missionaries about the history and hopes of the Church in China. The experience of the Church in China is quite different from our own, and this period of study helped orient our trip. After the communist revolution in China the Catholic Church was banned due to its allegiance to a foreign authority, and was replaced by the “Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.” Some Catholics chose to go underground rather than to join the nationalized association. The patriotic community is supported by the Chinese government and has a complicated relationship with the Vatican. The underground community has more allegiance to the Vatican but is more oppressed by the government. This is a focus of continued dialogue to try and unify the two bodies.

Father Bob Asterino, co-founder of the Union of Catholic Asian News, explained the difficulties and dangers of gathering and distributing the news on the Church in China, as well as possible solutions for unification within the Chinese Church. Father Mike Sloboda introduced us to the Diocese of Hong Kong’s Holy Spirit Center whose mission is to study and store data about China’s ever-changing mainland to aid in the implementation of appropriate Christian responses. During our visit, Father Sloboda introduced us to Bishop Tong of Hong Kong, who spoke with us regarding the Church in China and later, even though he just celebrated his seventieth birthday, taught us a lesson in humility on the basket- ball court! Afterwards, Father Sloboda took us to the cathedral where he introduced us to Cardinal Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong. His Eminence spent fifty minutes with us, speaking very frankly about the problems in China and his hopes for the future.

Our last two weeks in Hong Kong were spent teaching English to a group of exchange students from China’s mainland. As nearly all of the students were non-Christians, our teaching also served as an opportunity for evangelization.

For the remainder of our time in China, we ventured north to Jilin, where we spent two weeks living with Chinese Catholic seminarians and visiting many poor villages. To our surprise, the villages had a strong Catholic identity. One village was 95% Catholic and had two hundred people regularly attending 5:30 a.m. daily Mass! When I first considered going to China, I knew that the Church was oppressed in some ways; I hoped to learn how she operates in such an environment. I now real- ize how serious the demands of the Gospel are: prayer, openness, hard work, and a deep love for God – expressed by laity and clergy alike. This realization was greatly facilitated by each Maryknoll and Chinese priest I met, who have dedicated their lives to Christ in the hope that one day the underground and patriotic Church will be united.

This experience also showed me how great an impact one priest can have. This was most clearly seen in Father Barrons, who hosts his students for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, has a radio show, and serves as counselor for the school. Father Barrons’ commitment to being a “good shepherd” has borne fruit: he baptized over seventy students this past Easter alone!

The summer was also an experience of God’s amazing Providence. Had we stayed with our original plan, we would have never been able to meet all the amazing people we did or experience all the opportunities that opened up for us. This summer instilled in us a missionary spirit: to go out to places and people in our own dioceses where the Church is not known, welcomed, or wanted and to preach the Good News.