Sharing of the Joys and Challenges of Priestly Ministry
St. Augustine’s: First and Foremost a House of Prayer
As a newly-ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, NS, Fr. Patrick Salah says if there is one aspect that really stands out from his formation at St. Augustine’s Seminary it would be the importance of prayerfulness and the fostering of holiness in those studying for the priesthood.
“Our rector, Fr. Edwin Gonsalves, would always say the seminary is first and foremost a house of prayer,” recalls Fr. Salah, who was ordained last year. “The faculty did everything they could to foster that in us – not just through the formation process, but through example. It came out in the way they themselves live their faith, and witness their own faith. They were there in the Chapel praying with us every day. It was there in the way they taught us.”
A perfect example, he says, is the way he was taught theology – not merely from an academic perspective but with an understanding that “theology is a work done on one's knees and so it has to be rooted in prayer. So that spiritual dimension of everything we did was so important in shaping and forming us to be holy priests.”
Fr. Salah is now associate pastor at Christ the King parish in Dartmouth and says his time spent at St. Augustine’s continues to influence him.
“How I celebrate the liturgy as a priest and how I preach and teach about different topics, they are so greatly influenced by the example and the formation I received at St. Augustine’s,” he says.
“I think of Fr. John Mark Missio who was our director of liturgy for so long. I know that how I celebrate the liturgy has a huge impact on the life of the parish, on their spirituality, and on the fruits that they're going to receive from that. So I take that very seriously and come to the liturgy prepared. That was something that Fr. Missio really modeled to us because he made sure we were always prepared and that we understood why we were prepared. It wasn't merely to get everything right, it was to facilitate an encounter with God through the celebration of the liturgy.”
Fr. Salah says from the outset of entering the Seminary, it quickly became clear that the Seminary Chapel was at the heart of everything.
“It’s not just a school where we show up for classes. We live together, we pray together. Day in and day out, the Chapel is the heartbeat of the Seminary. It is the hub of everything and so the fact that we celebrate the liturgy twice a day together, whether it's the liturgy of the hours or mass every day, that shapes everything else that we do.”
