(Paris) In Bordeaux, where the closing of the Archbishop's seminary has just been announced, this year's higher consecrations of the traditional Institut du Bon Pasteur will take place on the 29th of June. Recently, the Institute also started female branch.
Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, the Archbishop of Bordeaux, announced a few days ago that the Archdiocesan seminary, which has been serving as an inter-diocesan seminary for several years, will be closed at the end of the current academic year. The reason for the drastic measure is the persistent lack of appeal.
Not directly related to the closure, but symbolic, is that this year's rise in ordinations will be credited to the traditional Institut du Bon Pasteur (Institute of the Good Shepherd) in Bordeaux.
On June 29, Msgr. François Bacqué will consecrate six candidates of the Institute to priests or deacons.
Msgr. Bacqué, born in 1936 like Pope Francis, is titular archbishop of Gradisca and until his retirement in 2011, he was Apostolic Nuncio in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He himself comes from Bordeaux and was ordained a priest in 1966 for this archdiocese.
The consecrations take place in the church of Saint-Eloi beginning at 9 o'clock. It is the main church of the Institute. At the same time as the consecrations, the 40th priestly jubilee of the founder and Superior General Philippe Laguérie is celebrated.
P. Laguérie emerged from the Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX). The quarrel came when he began to represent sedevacant positions. He gave these up later, founded his own religious community and approached Rome again. In 2006, a year before the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, the Institut du Bon Pasteur was legally recognized as the Institute of the Apostolic Life of the Pontifical Right and returned to full unity with Rome. Since then, it has been under the authority of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which was recently incorporated by Pope Francis as a section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Last April 6, five candidates from the Institute were ordained as sub-deacons, while eleven candidates received the lower orders. Archbishop Emery Kabongo Kaumdowi, Archbishop Emeritus of Ludo and canon of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, consecrated the ordinations.
On March 19, 2019, the feast of St. Joseph, a new branch was canonically established by the Institute in Warsaw. In Poland there are six priests of the Institute in Bialystok, Czestochowa and Warsaw.
On March 25, the first three novices of the still very young female branch of the Institute made their solemn vows. The Servantes Réparatrices de la Sainte Famille were established in Bogota in Colombia and recognized by the Archbishop there. Their charism includes tradition and the traditional form of the Roman Rite. They support the priests of the Institute through their prayer. In a special way they devote themselves to the sanctification of the family, both in prayer and in the apostolate.
The International Seminary Saint Vincent de Paul of the Institut du Bon Pasteur is located in Courtalain near Chartres. The female branch can be contacted via the branch of the Institute in Bogota.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Institut du Bon Pasteur (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
