Columbans end a 43-year tradition

Sydney
4 August 2002

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Columbans end a 43-year tradition

St Columban’s College ... spacious grounds and buildings are too big for just one trainee priest so it will go up for sale

St Columban’s College, North Turramurra, has been a training seminary for Columban missionary priests since 1959. But it’s just too big for the job these days.

It can accommodate 80 priests at a time, which is a blessing when the need is there.

But at the moment there’s only one priest in training, a reflection on the fall in the number of young men who seek to enter the priesthood.

So the college, also known as Hayes Park, is closing down.

The property will be sold and the proceeds directed to support Columban missions in countries such as Peru, Pakistan, the Philippines and Fiji.

The Columbans will open a new formation centre at Strathfield at the end of the year.

“It’s a heart-wrenching move for the people who have put a lot of hard work into the college, but it’s just not appropriate for it to accommodate one training priest,” says Fr Trevor Trotter, director of the Columban Society of Australia and New Zealand.

“Dwindling numbers of men looking to become priests has been a problem for years.

“There are many reasons why people don’t find religion and meaning in their lives.

“I feel it’s a result of cultural shifts in our society.”

St Columban’s College, now known as the Columban Mission Institute, opened its doors in 1959 as a seminary to train Columban missionary priests.

It has been home since then to 314 students, of whom 96 have been ordained as missionary priests.

In 1969, the college also received students for the priesthood from other religious congregations, plus Columban students from Korea and the Philippines.

A one-year training program was introduced in 1974 for religious and lay people from Australia and New Zealand, along with a course in missiology.

This program was developed to become the Pacific Mission Institute, which continued the focus on missiology – setting up a specialised library and resource centre for mission studies.

A new policy of missionary training for students was introduced in 1978.

Under this system, students were sent to mission countries such as Korea, the Philippines, Chile, Japan and Pakistan before completing their theology courses.

Many St Columban’s students have gone on to work in foreign countries in obedience to the mandate of Christ: “Go out and teach all nations.”