The Mass of the Holy Spirit, celebrated at the beginning of each academic year at St. John’s Seminary, this year offered the chance to install a new rector — Msgr. Marc Trudeau, a 1991 ordinand from St. John’s. Seminary staff, faculty, students and board of directors members gathered to celebrate the occasion, with Archbishop José Gomez presiding at the Mass and installation.
St. John’s also welcomed several new faculty members for 2014-15:
—Father Rodel Balagtas will work with the pastoral formation team at St. John’s, collaborating with pastors throughout Southern California in providing internships for seminarians in their third year of formation. Father Balagtas, also ordained in 1991, served as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Hollywood for the past 12 years and taught homiletics at St. John’s in the 2012-13 school year.
—Father Mike Roebert returns to St. John’s after serving as pastor for many years at St. Lucy Church in Long Beach. He will serve as a confessor in residence, having previous been on St. John’s faculty at from the 1970s to the 1990s.
—Dr. Anthony Lilles is the new Academic Dean for St. John’s and Academic Advisor for Juan Diego House in Los Angeles. Lilles was most recently at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, where he taught spiritual theology and working with accreditation teams since his appointment there in 1999.
—Dr. William Shaules joins the faculty as adjunct professor of Sacred Scripture. Shaules, who also teaches at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, has served for a number of years as formation coordinator in the archdiocesan Diaconate Formation Office.
—Dr. Mariano Lopez, well known to the students in the Spanish program, will be the new head of the seminary Spanish Department.
