As a Roman Catholic institution, Saint John’s Seminary is immersed in an ancient tradition which has a global culture and a global mission. Essential to that mission is the realization of the dignity of all peoples, as made in the image of God and as offered eternal salvation in Christ Jesus (CSDC §108-109, 144-148). That same mission does not ignore or obliterate the varieties and diversity of true gifts and activities found globally among the human race but rather recognizes their beginning and end in God and their importance in realizing the common good (CSDC §132-133, 164-165). Saint John’s Seminary is committed to building up the common good of the Seminary community, of the local and universal Church, of fellow Christians, and of society at large, in a spirit of solidarity (CSDC §192-193).
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (I Corinthians, 12:4-7, 12-13)
