My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I was in Rome the last week in February for the installation of Father Peter Harman as the new rector of the Pontifical North American College. Father Harman is a priest of our diocese from the former parish of St. John the Baptist in Quincy where he was born in 1973. He attended Quincy Notre Dame High School and completed philosophical studies in preparation for the priesthood at Saint Meinrad College Seminary in Indiana. He finished his seminary formation at the Pontifical North American College and received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Alphonsian Academy of Moral Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. Father Harman was ordained a priest in 1999 and served as Parochial Vicar at the Cathedral and at St. Agnes Parish in Springfield before earning his Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America. The topic of his dissertation was Towards a Theology of Suffering: The Contribution of Karol Wojtyła/Pope John Paul II. He then returned to central Illinois as pastor of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for another five years before returning to the Pontifical North American College in 2013 as Director of Pastoral Formation, Formation Adviser, and Director of Media Relations. Thanks to the convenience of modern communications technology and e-mail, he has continued to assist me and our Catholic Conference of Illinois as a research theologian, particularly in the area of Catholic moral theology and bioethics.

As I said at the time when his appointment was announced last November, it is a great honor for Father Peter Harman and for our diocese that he has been named the new rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Father Harman is a faithful priest with many talents, as he exhibited in his various assignments here in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, particularly in overseeing the renovation of our Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception when he was pastor of our Cathedral Parish in Springfield. We wish Father Harman well and pray for God's blessings as he assumes these new responsibilities in forming and educating future priests for the United States.

So what is the Pontifical North American College and why is it important? The North American College was founded by Pope Pius IX in 1859 and was granted pontifical status by Pope Leo XIII in 1884, placing it under the special patronage of the Apostolic See and the care of the Holy Father. The College, therefore, is the direct concern of the Congregation for the Clergy and is under the immediate supervision of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Its Board of Governors is composed of one elected bishop from each of the 14 episcopal regions of the United States.

The College has four departments: a Seminary, which prepares candidates for the Catholic priesthood, located on the Janiculum Hill near St. Peter's Basilica; the Casa Santa Maria, a residence for Catholic priests pursuing graduate studies, located in the historic center of Rome near the Trevi Fountain; the Institute for Continuing Theological Education (ICTE program), located in the Casa O'Toole on the grounds of the Seminary; and the Bishops' Office for U.S. Visitors to the Vatican, located at the Casa Santa Maria, which serves pilgrims who come to Rome from the United States. There are approximately 250 seminarians currently enrolled in the Seminary, approximately 75 priests doing post-graduate studies at the Casa Santa Maria, and approximately 30 priests in continuing theological education.

The term "college" in the title of the Pontifical North American College is not to be understood as a "college" in the sense that we use that term in the United States. In Rome, "colleges" are places of residence for seminarians that share a common modern language or nationality where they receive their human, spiritual and pastoral formation for priesthood. They receive their intellectual formation at one of Rome's academic universities, such as the Pontifical Gregorian University, under the sponsorship of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits); the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (also called the "Angelicum"), sponsored by the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans); or the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, sponsored by the Prelature of Opus Dei.

Our Diocese of Springfield in Illinois currently is blessed with two seminarians at the Pontifical North American College: Michael Friedel, from Holy Angels Parish in Wood River, and Dominic Rankin, from St. Rose of Lima Parish in Quincy. Father Daren Zehnle, a native of Quincy, is at the Casa Santa Maria and will finish his studies for the licentiate in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University before returning to our diocese in June. Please pray for them as they prepare for priestly service in our diocese and for Father Harman as he guides the important work of forming so many future priests who will care for the faithful in dioceses throughout the United States and elsewhere in the world.

May God give us this grace. Amen.