On July 13, 2015, the officials of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary (SJVTS, Cagayan de Oro City) and Loyola School of Theology (LST, Quezon City) signed a Memorandum of Agreement known as the Conventio ad affiliandum and Normae Servandae ad affiliationem theologicam exsequendam for the purpose of entering into a relationship of affiliation between the two institutions. The agreement, upon final approval of the Holy See’s Congregation for Catholic Education, will allow SJVTS – in the name of LST as an ecclesiastical faculty – to grant the ecclesiastical degree, Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology, to graduates of its four-year theology program.
The affiliation documents were signed at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center, Manila by Most Rev. Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J., D.D., Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and Chairman of the SJVTS Episcopal Board, and Rev. Fr. Jose V.C. Quilongquilong, S.J., President of LST. Also present were Most Rev. Nereo P. Odchimar, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Tandag, Most Rev. Juan de Dios Pueblos, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Butuan, Rev. Fr. Celerino M. Reyes, S.J., Rector of SJVTS, and Rev. Fr. Peter O. Pojol, S.J., Assistant to the President of LST. With the signing of the relevant documents, LST will then submit the entire documentation to the Congregation for Catholic Education, requesting for final approval of the agreement.
Serving the region of Northern Mindanao since 1985, SJVTS is the regional theological seminary of the Ecclesiastical Province of Cagayan de Oro comprising the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and the Dioceses of Butuan, Surigao, Tandag, and Malaybalay (CaBuSTaM). The seminary also admits students from other dioceses.
The historic agreement was signed coinciding with the year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of LST. On July 12, 1965, the Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines, Fr. Horacio de la Costa, with the authorization of the Jesuit Superior General Fr. Pedro Arrupe, opened the present School as an institute of philosophy and theology incorporating within it the faculty of ecclesiastical studies of San Jose Seminary. After one academic quarter at San Jose, the School moved to Loyola House of Studies on the campus of the Ateneo de Manila University. First classes at the new site were held on 18 September 1965.
LST was granted the status of an Ecclesiastical Faculty of Theology by the Congregation for Catholic Education on August 13, 1999, thereby also authorizing it to grant the ecclesiastical degrees of Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Sacred Theology and Doctorate in Sacred Theology.
