Brighton and Newton: Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish; the schools of Saint John’s Seminary, Andover Newton Theological School, Hebrew College, and Boston College

SAINT JOHN'S SEMINARY
SJS: http://www.sjs.edu

Saint John’s Seminary, or the Boston Ecclesiastical Seminary, was founded by Archbishop John J. Williams to prepare men for the Roman Catholic priesthood. In 1883, the school was chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to grant degrees in philosophy and divinity, and the first class was admitted in the fall of 1884. The Sulpician Fathers agreed to staff the seminary, and continued to direct it until 1911, when they were replaced by a faculty of diocesan priests. Changes in the charter of the seminary were authorized by the General Court of the Commonwealth in 1941. The institution had been dedicated to St. John the Evangelist and was widely known under the name of its patron, rather than under its legal title. In recognition of this fact the name was changed to St. John’s Seminary.

Since the seminary’s opening, over 3000 graduates have been ordained for the priesthood and have served in at least fifty different dioceses in the United States, Africa, South America, Asia, the Vatican, and the military throughout the world. Cardinals Cushing, Wright, and Aponte Martinez are numbered among St. John’s graduates. The founders of Maryknoll, the St. James Society, and the Society of Mary of the Most Holy Trinity are all alumni.

The outside of the old building is designed so that the Chapel is seen as a dramatic singular piece of architecture. It is built of fieldstone found locally. The stone is called Roxbury puddingstone and is abundant in the region. The architects for the building were from the firm of Maginnis and Walsh. Charles Maginnis is famous for his work on the beautiful Church of St. Catherine of Genoa in Somerville and also the restoration work of Trinity Church in Copley8 Square. The building’s recent renovation was completed in 1998.

Continue down Lake Street to Kendrick (turning before you reach the Cenacle building) and make the left along the lake. Continue on Kendrick (along the Chestnut Hill Country Club Golf Course to the left) until you reach Magnolia. Go left onto Magnolia Street which ends at The Eliot Memorial on Farlow Hill, near the place where John Eliot met with the native peoples, formerly called "Nonantum Hill" (= rejoicing). Magnolia Street makes an elbow bend here and becomes Eliot Memorial Rd. here; follow that to Waverly, make the left onto Waverly Street, then a right onto the third cross street, which is Cotton Street, and which winds around until it comes to Centre Street.

PREACHING THE GOSPEL IN EARLY NEW ENGLAND

This site commemorates the proclamation of the Gospel by the Rev. John Eliot to Chief Waban and his group on 28 October 1646. The Native peoples who lived in the area belonged to the Massachuset tribe and spoke the Algonquian language. Between 1617 and 1619 more than eight out of ten of the Massachuset people died from illnesses, possible small pox and measles, brought over by English fishermen. By the time the puritans came in 1630, there were few Massachuset people left in the region. John Eliot was the minister in Roxbury. He had learned the Algonquian language so that he could communicate with the Native peoples. When preaching and conversing with the Natives he was often accompanied by Edward Jackson and Daniel Gookin. When Waban and his followers became Christians, Eliot persuaded the General Court to grant the Natives a permanent village. It was called “Nonantum,” which means “rejoicing.” The Christian Native peoples were called Praying Indians.

Additional villages of Praying Indians were soon established in Natick and elsewhere in the colony, and there was much commerce and exchange between them and the English settlers. Gookin, appointed superintendent of all Praying Indians in Massachusetts, worked to write down their customs, manners, religion and government.

Pause at the corner of Centre and Cotton Streets.

OLD NEWTON CENTRE

1. THE NEWTON CAMPUS OF BOSTON COLLEGE

The Art and Law faculties of Boston College are located in the former Schraft (think candy) estate.
Immediately across the street from the campus is the Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart and the Carroll School for the Blind.

2. OLD NEWTON BURYING GROUND AND OLD NEWTON CENTRE

Immediately to the right is the Old Newton Burying Ground, which includes stones by John Foster of Dorchester, the Lamsons of Charlestown, and other well-known carvers from or near colonial Boston. In the center is a column that commemorates the site of the First Church of Newton

Then make a left on and continue down Centre Street until you reach Newton Center at the intersection of Centre and Beacon Streets.

CONTEMPORARY NEWTON CENTRE

Sites of Religious Significance in Newton Centre

As we enter Newton Centre we will go past Trinity Church, Episcopal and the First Congregational Church (the inheritor of the original First Church of Newton, now Greek Evangelical Church). The forebears of the Greek Evangelical Church who are from Greece were first drawn to the Protestant form of the Gospel by missionaries from the First Church of Newton over a century ago.

We will then pass, on the right, the tower of the First Baptist Church of Newton. This has a marker on the side, and is known as the "America" tower, since First Baptist was the home church of Samuel Francis Smith, author of "America" (1831). (“America” was first sung at Park Street Church in downtown Boston; a photo there commemorates the centennial anniversary singing of the tune in 1931.)

Continue on down Centre Street with the Lutheran Church of the Newtons on your left. Pass Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Parish Church on the right and the Swedenborg School of Religion on the left (at 1320 Centre Street).

ANDOVER NEWTON THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL
ANTS: http://www.ants.edu

Andover Newton is a merged (or “married”) union of two early 19th century schools of theology on the East Coast (1807/1825/1931/1965): Newton Baptist Seminary (1807) and Andover Seminary (1825) which merged to form the ANTS. Andover Newton Theological School is arguably the “mother” of all seminaries in the United States. (Although Harvard College was founded first, its Divinity School was not segmented out until 1815**ck dt/Am Ref). ANTS is the composite of two schools, Andover Theological Seminary and Newton Theological Institute, joined in merger in 1965. However, it was in 1931 that Andover moved to the Newton campus, accepting the Newton Theological Institution’s offer to enter into affiliation.

Andover Newton is today primarily a seminary of the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Churches. The student body represents some 30 denominations. A significant number of the students are from New England and the East Coast. Many, however, come from other pasrts of the country and 14% of the student body is minority or international, making Andover Newton a diverse and ecumenical community. Among the strengths of Andover Newton are the following:
- The Theology and the Arts program
- A long history of leadership in pastoral theology and field education with clinical training opportunities
- A leading institution in liberal Protestant theology and the Social Gospel while maintaining important evangelical connections integration in Faith, Health, and Spirituality
- The development of an important Distance Education program

One’s decision upon which school is first is based upon at least two decisions. First, it depends upon how one regards early Harvard College, realizing that its Divinity School was founded, as such, after that of Andover Seminary. Second, instruction through professors associasted with the Reformed Church of America began at a graduate level in 1784, 23 years before Andover’s claim to be first. However, New Brunswick had no campus, few books, no endowment, an uncertain board of trustees, and unclear school structure.

Chartered in 1807, Andover Theological Seminary became a model for graduate professional education. The desire for a well-educated clergy, together with dissatisfaction with developments in theology at Harvard College in the early nineteenth century, brought about the founding of a separate department of divinity at Phillips Academy (founded 1778) in Andover, Massachusetts. Adoniram Judson, and Andover graduate of 1810, is best known for his work in Burma (Myamar), where he translated the Bible into Burmese and produced the first Burmese-English dictionary. Andover Theological Seminary continued at its location in the southern Merrimack River Valley until 1907 when the trustees felt that the school needed to move closer to an urban setting and develop closer ties with the wider academic world. In 1908 Andover moved to Cambridge and began plans for a formal affiliation with Harvard Divinity School. However, a struggle over the nature of the school’s founding principles made such a merger impossible. In 1931 the school moved to the Newton campus, accepting the Newton Theological Institution’s offer to enter into affiliation.

Andover Newton has been long recognized for its work in psychology and clinical pastoral education and field education. One of the first acts of the newly associated schools was to appoint Austin Philip Guiles as the first full-time professor in psychology and clinical studies at a theological school. This established Andover Newton as a pioneer in providing clinical training for seminarians, an idea sought for but unachieved in the late nineteenth century such that seminary education might be seen to parallel the development of medical school education in its merged interests of academic science with practical professional education.

The Newton Theological Institution grew out of a meeting at the First Baptist Church of Boston in May 1825. Although Baptist clergy had been educated in other institutions, like Andover Theological Seminary, the Baptist community felt that the time had come for the founding of a Baptist seminary. The hilltop site in Newton was secured and the Rev. Irah Chase, and Andover alumnus, was the institution’s firs professor.

HEBREW COLLEGE
HC: http://www.hc.edu

The construction you see adjacent to the Andover Newton campus is the future home of Hebrew College. In September 2001, Hebrew College will be moving its campus to “Institution Hill” beside Andover Newton. Hebrew College trains teachers of Hebrew schools and its mission is to strengthen Jewish identity. Both Hebrew College and Andover Newton look forward to the possibilities for interfaith relations that this unique partnership will offer.

THE BOSTON THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
BTI : http://www.bostontheological.org

The offices of the Boston Theological Institute are located in Farwell Hall, the oldest building on the Andover Newton campus, on the ANTS campus. In addition to coordinating certain relationships in the areas of administration, program, and academics, the BTI offers two certificates. The certificates are in International Mission and Ecumenism, soon to be divided into three tracks, mission, religion and public policy, and inter-religious dialogue, and in Science and Religion. The latter is currently divided into three tracks, Ecology, Gen-ethics, and Natural Sciences.

BTI Office: We will pass the Farwell Building, which is the oldest building on the ANTS campus, used for dormitories, offices, and the office home of the BTI.

You will be greeted with a round of coffee and pastries, and brochures and posters from all 9 BTI schools, with a discussion of their history. After the trolleys arrive, you will have ten minutes to get hot drinks. After a brief talk in Noyes Hall, there will be time for formal questions and to wander, mingle, look at displays set up of schools, history, time lines, etc. We will drive by the Meeting House display the BTI office, the Hebrew College building construction site, and back to Noyes.

Leaving the ANTS campus, travel back down Herrick Road, right onto Chase Street, left on Langley, right down Union Street into Beacon Street, traveling east to Boston College. Continue on Beacon street to the intersection of Hammond Street and Beacon at College Road, which brings you out to Beacon Street at the corner where the BC Department of Theology buildings are best seen.

BC DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY
BC: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/theo/

Boston College, founded by the Society of Jesus in 1863, was among the first major Catholic universities in the United States to invest its academic and spiritual resources to found a Pastoral Institute to directly serve the ministries of the Church.

The Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry (IREPM): Since 1971, Boston College¹s Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry has been preparing and renewing priests, sisters, brothers, and lay leaders for the mission of the Church in the world. IREPM gives its students thorough grounding in sacred scripture and theology, with formation in the pastoral arts - catechesis, liturgy, spirituality, care and counseling, social work, and more - and with sustained attention to their own spiritual nurture. For nearly 30 years, it has been sending out graduates (now over two thousand) to every corner of the globe and into every diocese of the United States. Their education and formation at Boston College has enabled them to become leaders in the mission and ministry of the Catholic community to the world.

In 1863 Boston College was formed, one of the oldest Jesuit-funded universities in the United States, later to be enhanced through its relationship with Weston Jesuit School of Theology (1922-32). Some of the strengths of the Theology Department of Boston College include the following:
- Theology and Historical Theology interests
- Jewish and Islamic studies within the Theology Department
- Jesuit volunteers and a commitment of social justice on a global scale

Throughout its history, the following commitments have marked the curriculum of IREPM:

1) The Mission and Life of the Church in the World. IREPM understands its defining function as serving the mission of the Church in the world, as enabling the Christian community to be "a sacrament of God¹s salvation" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #780). It fulfills this primary purpose by preparing and renewing leaders - clergy, vowed religious and lay -for the Church¹s various pastoral ministries. Its intent is to deepen the ecclesial identity and spirituality of its students and heighten their competence to serve the life of the Church.

2) The Spirit of Renewal of the Second Vatican Council. IREPM embraces the words of Vatican II: "The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these too are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts" (Gaudium et Spes, #1). Since its inception, the Institute has maintained a deep commitment to the spirit of the Council and to the contemporary "mind and heart" of the Church.

3) Holistic Education for Ministry. The curriculum at IREPM emphasizes education - more than "training" – with strong academic grounding in scripture, theology, and pastoral formation. Yet it also provides a holistic preparation for ministry, engaging the whole person - head, heart, and hands - to inform, form, and transform in Christian faith. Such holistic education is reflected especially in its community life and participative pedagogy - for which IREPM is world-renowned.

4) Formative Spirituality. The defining purpose of all Christian ministry is spiritual - the "care of souls." To render such service, however, ministers themselves must be growing in holiness of life and be prepared to nurture others likewise. IREPM¹s spiritual formation component reflects the rich treasury of Catholic spirituality with special affinity for the Ignatian charism.

5) Justice and Compassion. The Church clearly teaches that commitment to justice is "a constitutive aspect of the Gospel" (Roman Synod of 1971); the Ignatian charism emphasizes the Christian call to be "people for others" in "a faith that does justice." Reflecting these commitments, IREPM¹s curriculum emphasizes the social responsibilities of Christian faith, the Gospel mandate of compassion for the poor, to work for justice, and to oppose all social structures of injustice.

6) Opening Out Ministry Among the Whole Christian Community. There are ample signs that the Holy Spirit is calling the Church to renew itself as "a holy priesthood" (1 Pt 2:5), in the midst of which ordained ministry will also be renewed and strengthened. This requires engaging and nurturing the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are found in the whole community; enabling all Christians to honor the responsibilities of their baptism. Throughout its history, this opening out of ministry into the whole community has been a core commitment of IREPM.

7) Welcoming Women into Ministry. In the spirit of Pope John Paul II¹s Mulieres Consortio, the Boston College Pastoral Institute is a leader in preparing and mentoring women in all the functions of formal Christian ministry now open to them. Many of our women graduates currently work in chancery offices, marriage tribunals, hospital and prison chaplaincy, etc. - functions until recently reserved to the ordained. Likewise, within its curriculum IREPM reflects and appreciates the enrichment brought by women¹s¹ voices to the study of scripture, theology, and spirituality.

8) A Deep and Faithful Catholic Spirit. The whole work and life of IREPM is designed to draw upon and give students access to the richness of Catholic Christianity - to the tradition at its best. Yet it does so in the true spirit of catholicity (katha holos - all are welcome) - with ecumenical sensitivity and hospitality to all.

Continue along Beacon Street, traveling east, all the way into Kenmore Square; when you reach Kenmore Square (point out the now-defunct but still lit CITGO sign! an artifact of public necessity for navigation..) pick up Commonwealth Ave to Mass Ave, and turn right on Mass Ave to Boylston, following it down to Charles Street and making the left on Charles.