Saint John the Evangelist Seminary

I am pleased to be able to share with you that the Evangelical Catholic Church has assumed the pastoral stewardship for Saint John the Evangelist Seminary and is currently reorganizing and preparing to rededicate this online program for the academic formation of candidates for the priesthood on January 1st, 2014.

This commitment to the academic formation of priests has now put the Evangelical Catholic Church and myself in the position of "putting our money where our mouth are."   I have long stated that one of the elements hindering the potential success of the Autocephalous Catholic Movement has been our collective lack of academic formation.  The Evangelical Catholic Church cannot solely depend on the incardination of priests who have studied for the priesthood and come to us with a wealth of experiences.  We must also be prepared to invest in the academic formation of candidates for the priesthood who have never participated in academic formation or for candidates who had some past experience in academic formation.

Of all of the commitments which the Evangelical Catholic Church has embraced, I believe that this mission will be one of the most important areas of work we will undertake.

I invite you to visit the new website for Saint John the Evangelist Seminary at sjtes.com 

A Deam Begins to Become Reality

One of my biggest frustrations about the Independent Catholic Movement has been the absence of any serious academic formation program for the training of deacons and priests.

One of the greatest criticisms made about our movement has been the fact that we have so many priests, deacons and bishops who don't know the difference between a corporal and a doorknob. The overwhelming number of illiterate clergy within the movement is one of the reasons why the People of God so often take a pass on us.

During this past year and prior to our National Conference and Retreat this past June, our community learned of the existence of two academic formation programs: St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Beloved. Both of these formation programs have been created by and staffed by individuals who have themselves completed contemporary academic formation programs and have brought their experiences to bring fourth their seminary programs.

It is so long overdue.

At our National Conference the Evangelical Catholic Church approved both of these programs for our candidates for Orders to consider. Our community can now trust in the fact that our seminarians will be properly trained and prepared to serve the Sacramental and Pastoral needs of the People of God.

Thanks be to God!

Sincerely Yours,

+James Alan Wilkowski

Evangelical Catholic Bishop for the Diocese of the Northwest
Chicago, Illinois

www.evangelicalcatholicchurch.org/northwest.htm