Novitiate and College of Humanities of the Legionaries of Christ | |
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Address | |
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475 Oak Avenue , , 06410 United States | |
Coordinates | 41°30′44″N72°54′13″W / 41.51222°N 72.90361°W |
Information | |
Type | Novitiate, AA in Religious Studies and Humanities |
Motto | Christus vita vestra (Christ Is Your Life) |
Religious affiliation(s) | Christian |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Patron saint(s) | Sacred Heart, Blessed Virgin Mary, St John the Evangelist, St Paul |
Established | 1965 (current location 1982) |
Dean | Fr. Miguel de la Torre, LC |
Rector | Fr. Timothy Walsh, LC |
Color(s) | Red and White |
Accreditation | State of Connecticut |
Website | www.lccollege.org |
The Novitiate and College of Humanities of the Legionaries of Christ in Cheshire, Connecticut, is a formation house dedicated to forming priests for the Congregation. New members of the Legion of Christ who are assigned to the North-American Territory spend their first fours years here after joining as their first stage of training for religious life and priestly ministry, before studying philosophy and theology in Rome. The formation time in Cheshire is divided into a two-year Novitiate and two years of Humanities. After the second year of Humanities, an Associate of Arts Degree is offered. The College is accredited by the State of Connecticut. [1] As of 2018, there are about 20 novices and 70 professed religious studying at the College.
The building was constructed in 1961 by the Missionaries of La Salette as a minor seminary. The Legion of Christ acquired the property in 1982 and moved the novitiate from a much smaller house in Orange, Connecticut. In 1991, the program of humanities was begun and a new wing was added to house the professed seminarians. [2]
The novitiate began in the US in a home in Woodmont, Connecticut in 1965. In 1971, it was moved to Orange before receiving its current location in Cheshire. [3]
As of 2017, all professed novices of the Legion of Christ worldwide who study humanities are doing so in Cheshire.
Legionaries consider the Novitiate the University where one studies Christ. The novitiate is geared towards the profession of the religious vows at the end of the two years. Each novice must discern if God is calling him to be a lifelong member of the Legion of Christ and a priest.
The schedule of the novitiate focuses on prayer and learning the spirit of the congregation. They have daily Mass, rosary, adoration, and spiritual reading. They also have weekly spiritual direction and regular spiritual conferences. [4]
Once a year, the novices dedicate a month of their summer to manual labor or, alternatively, charitable work. By such work, they come into contact with the struggles of others who fight to put food on the table. [5] [6]
At their College of Humanities, the members of the Legion of Christ undertake studies in humanities (Western Civilization, Literature, Art and Music Theory and History), oral and written communication, foreign languages (Latin, Greek, and Spanish), Mathematics, Physics, and Biology for Bioethics. [7]
Each year, the humanities students do a week of work with similar goals as the novices month of work. [6]
The Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ is a Roman Catholic clerical religious order made up of priests and candidates for the priesthood established by Marcial Maciel in Mexico in 1941. Maciel was also Director General of the congregation for over 60 years until forced to step down in January 2005 as a result of a child sexual abuse scandal.
Marcial Maciel Degollado was a Mexican Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement. He was general director of the legion from 1941 to 2005. Throughout most of his career, he was respected within the Church as "the greatest fundraiser of the modern Roman Catholic church" and as a prolific recruiter of new seminarians. Late in his life, Maciel was revealed to have been a long time drug addict who sexually abused many boys and young men in his care. After his death, it came to light that he had also maintained sexual relationships with at least four women, one of whom was a minor at the time. He fathered as many as six children, two of whom he is alleged to have sexually abused.
The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, commonly known as the Redemptorists, is a religious congregation of the Catholic Church, dedicated to missionary work and founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scala, near Amalfi, Italy, for the purpose of labouring among the neglected country people around Naples. Members of the congregation are Catholic priests and consecrated religious brothers and minister in more than 100 countries.
Regnum Christi, officially the Regnum Christi Federation is an international Catholic Federation. It is open to all lay Catholics and in addition has three consecrated branches, the Legion of Christ, consecrated women, and consecrated men. Regnum Christi is dedicated to promoting the Catholic faith. Their motto is "Love Christ, Serve People, Build the Church."
The Society of the Divine Word, popularly called Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic missionary religious congregation. As of 2020, it consisted of 6,023 members composed of priests and religious brothers working in more than 70 countries. It is the largest missionary congregation in the Catholic Church. Its members add the nominal letters SVD after their names to indicate membership in the Congregation. The superior general is Paulus Budi Kleden who hails from Indonesia.
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are a missionary congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1854 by Servant of God Jules Chevalier (1824–1907) at Issoudun, France, in the Diocese of Bourges.
The Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette are a religious congregation of priests and brothers in the Latin Church, one of the 23 sui iuris churches which make up the Catholic Church which is led by the Bishop of Rome. They are named after the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette in France. There is also a parallel religious community of sisters called the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of La Salette. A lay fraternal group of associates also works in cooperation with the vowed religious. The Missionaries are dedicated to making known the message of Our Lady of La Salette, a call to healing of inner brokenness and personal reconciliation with God, especially as found in the first three commandments. The missionaries are popularly known as "the La Salettes."
The Congregation of St. Cecilia, commonly known as the Nashville Dominicans, is a religious institute within the Latin Church of the Catholic Church located in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a member of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, one of the two organizations which represent women religious in the United States. The sisters combine a monastic communal lifestyle of contemplation in the Dominican tradition with an active apostolate in Catholic education. As of 2018, the congregation has 300 sisters.
The Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are a religious community of women consecrated to Christ in the Dominican charism with the mission of living the Word of God through teaching, evangelization and health care. The community was founded in 1861 by Maria Rose Columba Bialecka (1838–1887) in Poland.
The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, commonly called the Pauline Fathers, is a monastic order of the Roman Catholic Church, founded in Hungary during the 13th century.
Don Bosco Formation Center (DBFC), formerly known as Don Bosco Missionary Seminary (DBMS), is a Salesian House run by the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in Lawaan III Talisay City, Cebu, Philippines. It was established to provide salesian formation for the candidates to the priestly and religious life of the Salesian Province of Mary Help of Christians (FIS) in the Philippines.
Established in 1982, Immaculate Conception Apostolic School (ICAS) was a private Roman Catholic boarding school for boys in grades seven through twelve. It was located within the Diocese of Manchester and sponsored by the Legionaries of Christ, a religious congregation of the Roman Catholic Church. The school buildings still stand overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee in the central New Hampshire town of Center Harbor. It served approximately 130 students at its heyday. It closed permanently in June 2015.
The Missionaries of the Company of Mary is a missionary religious congregation within the Catholic Church. The community was founded by Saint Louis de Montfort in 1705 with the recruitment of his first missionary disciple, Mathurin Rangeard. The congregation is made up of priests and brothers who serve both in the native lands and in other countries. The Montfortian Family comprises three groups: the Company of Mary, the Daughters of Wisdom and the Brothers of Saint Gabriel.
There are several controversies surrounding the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, including aggressive recruiting practices, elitism, rampant sexual abuse scandals of minors, and having multi-million dollar offshore holdings in tax havens.
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Established in 2005, Sacred Heart Apostolic School (SHAS) is a Roman Catholic minor seminary, a private, all male boarding school in the United States for those who are considering a vocation to the priesthood. It is located within the Diocese of Gary and operated by the Legionaries of Christ, a religious congregation of the Roman Catholic Church. The school is located in the north-central Indiana town of Rolling Prairie. It serves approximately 20-35 students enrolled in grades 7 through 12.
The Center for Higher Studies of the Legion of Christ is where most the members of the congregation study their philosophy and theology in preparation for priestly ordination. It is located on the west side of Rome near Via Aurelia, right behind the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. Most of the religious brothers study at Regina Apostolorum while living at the center.
The Sisters of the Society of Saint Pius X are a semi-contemplative order of religious sisters founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre on September 22, 1974. The motherhouse is located in Saint-Michel-en-Brenne, France, with additional houses in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United States. As of 2018, the current Superior General is Mother Maria Jean Bréant.
Anthony Joseph Freeman, L.C. was an American Legion of Christ religious brother. He is noted for his spiritual book, One Step Closer: 40 Doses of Motivation, Hacks, and Experiences to Share with Millennial Catholics, which became widely read in some circles of the Catholic Church.