Casa

A Community of Pastors

REV. JAMES CONN, S.J., SUPERIOR OF THE CASA SANTA MARIA

As my second year as superior at the Casa Santa Maria draws to a close, I have been asked to offer some reflections of the year in review. From the beginning of my service at the Casa I found notably challenging the integration into a happy and holy community of three identifiable groups of priests: returning residents at different ages and stages of priesthood and graduate studies; men with at least some full-time pastoral experience assigned to studies in Rome for the first time; and newly ordained alumni of the

College assigned to the Casa for a year or two to complete their licentiate.

COVID-19, which had effectively closed the seminary and the Casa in

March 2020, was ironically effective in addressing this dilemma. Last

September the Casa provided a two-week quarantine for residents newly arrived or returning from the

USA. The facilities of the house were divided between them and other residents who had been quarantined earlier elsewhere. Praying, eating, and

Student priests sing the Marian antiphon at the conclusion of Mass. recreating in these bubbles, new and veteran priests, unable to be out and about in Rome, came to know and enjoy the company of one another quickly and easily. Orientation took on a dynamic and spontaneous character.

Relationships forged during these early and somewhat stressful days perdured throughout the year and its various lockdowns. Natural circles of students of common academic fields and university affiliation, regional and diocesan brothers, and alumni of different seminaries found a new center in the priestly fraternity of the Casa whether at the altar, at mealtimes, at play, or in intellectual pursuits old and new.

The Christmas and Easter breaks were different from those of past years. As travel became difficult or impossible, most Casa men remained in Rome and were surprised at how much they enjoyed being together. Festive liturgical celebrations, special home-cooked meals prepared by expert resident chefs, joyful music, extended conversation, and the transformation of our workaday coffee room off the cortile into a

Rev. James Conn, S.J. holds a colloquium with residents of the Casa Santa Maria. Members of the Casa Santa Maria make a consecration to St. Joseph.

comfortable and welcoming community space were all features of our holiday downtime that carried over into ordinary time.

I venture to say that the Casa has developed something of a new or renewed identity and character. Ever a peaceful center for study, prayer, and occasional friendship, it has become a more intentional community of priests of different ages and experiences who share responsibility for the continuing formation of each other. Through their preaching and presiding at the Eucharist and prayers, by their human and spiritual companionship and conversation, and in their intellectual encounters as maturing theologians, philosophers, and canonists, they have become more consciously men of mission and ministry.

My brother priests at the Casa have also helped me to understand my own role more clearly. I am neither a seminary rector nor a religious superior, but an elder brother and, after my many years as a teacher, for the first time a pastor, but in a very privileged way a pastor pastorum. n