Christ the King Seminary (Pakistan)

Christ the King Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary in Karachi. It is located in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town[1] adjacent to the Portiuncula Friary. In its early years most of the faculty were provided by the Franciscans. It has been described as "the pioneering theological institution for the Catholic Church in Pakistan."[2]

The high-water mark of the seminary's 50-year existence was the recruitment of 98 seminarians for the class that entered in 1990.

Origins

On 5 April 1957 Pope Pius XII issued a decree through the Congregation of the Faith to build a regional seminary in Karachi.[3]

When the seminary started in 1956 it had only four students. Among them was Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, who later went on to become its Rector. Other alumni include the Archbishop Emeritus of Karachi Evarist Pinto,[4] the late Bishop Anthony Theodore Lobo of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Joseph Cardinal Coutts, the late Bishop Andrew Francis of Multan, and the late Bishop John Joseph of Faisalabad and the late Bishop Patras Yusaf of Multan.

Fifty years on, the seminary has graduated 780 students from Pakistan and abroad, some coming from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Italy, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka. It also expanded over the decades, adding a grassy field for soccer and cricket, a basketball court, a pavilion, a retreat center and a Marian grotto with a fountain.

The National Catholic Institute of Theology (NCIT) was established at the seminary in September 1997, offering academic courses leading to a diploma in theology, as well as programs for laypeople and Religious involved in Church ministries. At the Institute students can now obtain a Bachelor of Theology degree from Melbourne University due to the efforts of Yarra Theological Union and the Melbourne College of Divinity.[5]

Developments

In 1994 the philosophy studies program for seminarians was separated from the theology program and moved to the St. Francis Xavier Seminary in the Lahore archdiocese.

In addition to dwindling vocations, the seminary has had to deal with a shortage of drinking water over the last 10 years, exacerbated by local authorities appropriation, without compensation, of its old well in November 2005 for the Lyari Expressway project.

The expressway project is part of Karachi's "Cleaning the City" drive, which the Asian Human Rights Commission says has rendered thousands homeless. It adds that 11,000 houses and 3,100 commercial buildings outside the path of the expressway have been evacuated and demolished.

Since 2008 the seminary has been hosting the Cardinal Cordeiro Cricket tournament to promote religious vocations and remember Pakistan’s first cardinal. In 2010 there are 43 students from all six dioceses and the Apostolic Prefecture of Quetta.[6]

In 2010, a grant from Aid to the Church in Need was made to the Seminary where it will be used for library books and new air conditioning units.[7]

In 2011 there were 24 seminarians in the institution.[8] By 2014 this had risen to 40.[9]

On 4 May 2012 Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, appointed Fr. Benjamin Shahzad as Rector of the Seminary.[10]

In June 2019 the number of seminarians had risen to 72.[11]

Rectors
  1. Rev. Innocent Laurensse, OFM (1956 - 1971)[12]
  2. Rev. Anslem Moons, OFM (1971 - 1974)
  3. Rev. Lawrence Saldanha (1974 - 1979)[13]
  4. Rev. Emmanuel Asi (1979 - 1988)[14]
  5. Rev. Arnold Heredia (1988 - 1993)[15]
  6. Rev. Inayat Bernard (1993 - 2004)[16]
  7. Rev. Rufin Anthony (2004 - 2005)[17]
  8. Rev. Augustine Soares (2005 - 2012)[18]
  9. Rev. Benjamin Shahzad (2012 – 2019)
  10. Rev. Kamran Taj (2019 - )[19]

Notable alumni
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References
  1. Wikimapia Accessed 21 July 2020
  2. Hedlund, RE, et al. The Oxford Encyclopaedia of South Asian Christianity. Oxford University Press 2011
  3. Catholics in Pakistan website Accessed 6 December 2017
  4. "New rector appointed for Christ the King major seminary in Karachi". Archived from the original on 14 June 2011.
  5. "Growing Living Stones". Archived from the original on 19 September 2009.
  6. UCANews 17 September 2010 Archived 22 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Catholic News Agency 22 December 2010
  8. UCANews 5 December 2011 Archived 7 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Aid to the Church in Need 21 August 2014
  10. Agenzia Fides 18 December 2012
  11. Asia News 7/2/2019
  12. Camps, Arnulf. Studies in Asian mission history, 1956-1998. Brill, The Netherlands, 2000
  13. "PASTORAL LETTER".
  14. "Teaching theology to Christians and Muslims".
  15. "Pakistan Christians Acquitted Of Blasphemy".
  16. "Ecumenical Graduate Fellowship Helps Students". Archived from the original on 8 March 2018.
  17. "Dominican Friars Celebrate 75 Years". Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  18. "Major seminary celebrates golden jubilee".
  19. Agenzia Fides 22 November 2019
  20. "Blasphemy Law in Pakistan".
  21. "Time has not changed Advani's alma mater". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 5 June 2005.
  22. "Rev. Rufino Anthony appointed rector". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  23. Chittagong Diocese website accessed 23 November 2012
  24. "Muslims and Christians join in prayer for the victims of London bomb blasts". Archived from the original on 14 June 2011.
  25. Vatican Radio 3 July 2013
  26. Times of India 16 August 2015
  27. "29 Catholic Missionaries Killed This Year". Archived from the original on 24 October 2007.
  28. "Agenzia Fides 1 July 2019". Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
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