St. Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate, Ho Chi Minh City, Celebrates First STB Graduation as Affiliate of LST

In a celebration both solemn and joyous, St. Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam celebrated its first Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology (STB) graduation on 28 March 2018 as an affiliate of LST. The event was attended by Jesuit officials of the Vietnamese Province of the Society of Jesus, professors of SJJS, parents, relatives and friends of graduates, and superiors of religious congregations who send their men to studies at SJJS.

By virtue of the relationship of affiliation between SJJS and LST, the Congregation for Catholic Education, in a decree dated 23 January 2018, has granted LST as an Ecclesiastical Faculty the power to confer the STB degree to students of SJJS “who, after having favorably completed the prescribed program of study (can. 250), have properly passed the special examinations under the guidance and authority of the same Faculty”.

The graduation was preceded by a Baccalaureate Mass at 5:30 pm presided by SJJS Rector Fr. Joseph Phạm Tuấn Nghĩa, S.J., with around thirty (30) other priests concelebrating. The homily was delivered by Fr. Nguyễn Thái Sơn, S.J., Prefect of Theological Studies at SJJS. With graduates and professors in full academic regalia, the graduation ceremonies followed with the granting of the STB degree to five (5) students of the Society of Jesus, two (2) of the Ministers of the Infirm and one (1) of the Servants of the Paraclete. Twenty-two (22) other students received a Certificate after completing the three-year non-degree Juniorate and Philosophy program at SJJS.

Fr. Rector thanked the present and past Vietnamese Jesuit Provincials, Rectors and Deans who have contributed in the past years to the realization of the event. He also profusely thanked Loyola School of Theology, represented at the occasion by Fr. Enrico Eusebio, S.J., Chair of the Commission on Affiliation of LST, for seeing the project of affiliation to completion with the approval of the agreement by the Congregation for Catholic Education for a five-year experimental period.

In his address, Fr. Eusebio recalled that in the petition letter of then Fr. Provincial Joseph Phạm Thanh Liêm, S.J. expressing the intent of SJJS to affiliate with LST, the former Provincial wrote that among the motivations for the request are “to favor the inter-Provincial and universal collaboration and exchange among Jesuit Provinces … and to better prepare Jesuits who are both deeply rooted in the local cultural context and available for universal missions of the Society”. In response, Fr. Eusebio noted, “Loyola School of Theology commits itself to assist SJJS in any way we can in providing quality theological formation, in providing teachers of the theological disciplines, and in other areas of cooperation”.

In compliance with the provision of the Conventio ad affiliandum and Normae servandae ad affiliationem theologicam exsequendam signed on 21 September 2017, SJJS earlier conducted the STB Comprehensive Examinations of the eight (8) candidates for graduation last March 23 and 26, 2018 under the guidance and authority of LST, represented by Fr. Eusebio. The Board of Examiners was composed of Fr. Francis Xavier Nguyễn Hai Tỉnh, S.J., S.T.D., Professor of Systematic Theology, Fr. Joseph Phạm Tuấn Nghĩa, S.J., S.T.D., Professor of Biblical Theology, and Fr. Francis Joshep Nguyen Mai Kha, S.J., E.H.L., Professor of Church History at SJJS. Fr. Nguyễn Thái Sơn, S.J., Prefect of Theological Studies, served as Moderator of the proceedings.