Seminary formation ‘a passion’ for Bishop Cozzens

An early morning Holy Hour is the place seminarians living at The St. Paul Seminary can regularly expect to spot their housemate, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, said Deacon Connor McGinnis, a transitional deacon of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The bishop has lived at the seminary since 2018, and he quietly prays alongside the seminarians in St. Mary’s Chapel a few mornings of the week, Deacon McGinnis said.

“When we’re getting ready to start with morning prayer and move on, he’ll quietly make his way out and go about his business for the day,” he said. For 25-year-old Deacon McGinnis, who anticipates his priestly ordination in May, witnessing this aspect of Bishop Cozzens’ prayer life makes an impact.

“Seeing a man in his position, with his authority, just down there praying with us … (is a) witness of prayerfulness, that simplicity, that humility” that marks his episcopacy, he said. It also leads to a certain “marveling at … that consistency of prayer there, even in the midst of all the other things pulling on him,” he added.

Although he was ordained a priest in 1997, Bishop Cozzens has never been far from seminary life. Following doctoral studies in sacred theology in Rome, then-Father Cozzens taught and served in seminary formation at The St. Paul Seminary from 2006 to his episcopal ordination in 2013.

Then, when longtime SPS rector Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan transitioned to a new role, Bishop Cozzens served as SPS’ interim rector from June 2018 to January 2019, and led efforts to find the right candidate for a permanent rector. That ultimately led to Father Joseph Taphorn, a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha, and a friend of Bishop Cozzens since college.

Bishop Cozzens was still interim rector as Deacon McGinnis entered SPS in 2018, and the bishop’s efforts to strengthen seminary culture and build fraternity were noticeable, he said.

Those efforts aren’t only local. Bishop Cozzens is the president of the corporate board for the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha, Nebraska, which provides ongoing formation for diocesan seminarians, priests and bishops. In 2015, discussions at an IPF conference in Denver led Bishop Cozzens and other seminary leaders from the U.S. and Canada to identify the need for formation for seminary formators — the men and women who help prepare seminarians for ministry. That conversation was particularly driven by a talk Bishop Cozzens gave there on St. John Paul II’s vision for seminary formators.

That ultimately led to the creation of the Seminary Formation Council, which sponsors a two-year certificate in Seminary Formation for Missionary Discipleship for seminary formators. Bishop Cozzens serves as the president of its board of directors.

Being a seminary formator “is really a vocation within a vocation,” said Father John Kartje, rector and president of the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary near Chicago, a role he assumed in 2015. Father Kartje was part of a team of seminary leaders, including Bishop Cozzens, who worked to form the Seminary Formation Council, and he currently serves as vice president of its board.

Being a good formator “doesn’t happen automatically,” Father Kartje said. “A man may be a great parish priest, but he hasn’t necessarily had the training and background to do seminary work” when assigned to be a formator. He said he’s seen the benefits of the certificate program — which focuses on the personal formation of formators themselves — at Mundelein.

“Bishop Cozzens’ leadership has been so central to the entire process,” he said, noting the bishop’s range of experience, deep spirituality and talent for synthesizing ideas. Seminary formation “is just a passion of his and part of his vocation,” he said.

While the Diocese of Crookston doesn’t have its own seminary, its seminarians will benefit from having a bishop who’s interested in them and their formation, Father Kartje said. “As rector here, it’s so evident when a bishop really does take a deep interest in his seminarians. … I would totally envision Bishop Cozzens being a formator for those seminarians, though not as a seminary faculty member.”