Redemptoris Mater Galilee Seminary
The Redemptoris Mater seminary of Korazin in Upper Galilee is a special seminary, promoted by the Neo-catechumenal Way, a direction advocated by the Vatican for the new evangelization, namely for regions that are not Christianized, dechristianized or in difficult conditions. It is therefore a missionary diocesan seminary, canonically erected in 2008 by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Bishop Fouad Twal, in communion with the other Catholic Bishops of Galilee. It is joined academically with the Beit Jala seminary and affiliated with the Lateran University of Rome.
It is a diocesan and missionary seminary with seminarians from various countries. After ordination, each seminarian makes himself available to serve where a pastoral need is felt. Redemptoris Mater is the ninety-fifth seminary of its kind in the world, since the founding of the first in Rome in 1988.
The seminary hosts seminarians from the Holy Land, and from abroad (mainly from Latin America and Italy), almost as many professors and four permanent formators. In addition to learning Arabic and Hebrew, they receive a complete priestly formation, they perform a pastoral year in parishes as deacons and two years in the diocese as priests before the Bishop can send them on a mission. Indeed, the nature of this seminary is to train evangelizers for the world, ready to go to the ends of the earth. For this reason, Bishop Boulos Marcuzzo, former Patriarchal Vicar at Nazareth, insists on the attitude of complete availability, serious study and especially on inculturation, pastoral and cultural, an indispensable element for all priestly ministry today in the Middle East.
Thirteen priests have already been ordained (twelve Latins and a Maronite). They were sent to minister as parochial vicars in Palestine and Jordan, three are priests in Rafidiah (Palestine), Eilat (Israel) and Aqaba (Jordan).
