The Provincial Council has appointed Sulpician Fr. Shawn D. Gould, PSS, STL, JD, as the next President-Rector of St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland, effective July 1, 2026. This appointment has received the prerequisite approvals of Most Reverend William Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore and Chancellor of St. Mary’s, and Very Reverend Shayne E.M. Craig, PSS, Superior General of the Society of St. Sulpice.

The Provincial Superior Fr. Daniel F. Moore praised the appointment commenting, “This is a moment of great promise for St. Mary’s. Fr. Shawn Gould brings to this essential ministry a deep love for the priesthood, a genuine pastoral heart, and a virtuous apostolic vision rooted in the Church’s living tradition. Under his leadership, St. Mary’s will continue to flourish as a Sulpician house of prayer, priestly formation, and missionary zeal, serving the bishops of our nation, the seminarians entrusted to us, and the needs of the Church with enhanced clarity and purpose.”

Archbishop William E. Lori, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Chancellor of St. Mary’s Seminary & University, expressed strong confidence in the appointment: “I am delighted with the appointment of Fr. Shawn Gould, PSS, as the next President-Rector of St. Mary’s Seminary and University. Fr. Gould’s priestly zeal and deep commitment to priestly formation will serve him well as he leads the seminary community. I am also grateful to Fr. Phil Brown, PSS, for his dedicated years of service as Rector, during which he laid a strong foundation for future generations of young men discerning a call to the priesthood.”

Fr. Gould responded, “I am grateful to Fr. Moore and the Provincial Council, to Archbishop Lori, and to the St. Mary’s Board of Trustees for the confidence they have placed in me. I thank Fr. Brown for his excellent stewardship of St. Mary’s over the past decade, and I look forward to working with the faculty, staff, and benefactors of St. Mary’s as we continue to implement Fr. Olier’s vision of an apostolic house promoting conformity to Christ in the interior lives of seminarians and priests.”

A priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and a member of the Society of St. Sulpice since 2021, he currently serves as the Director of the Blessed Fr. Michael J. McGivney Propaedeutic House of Formation and St. Mary’s Historic Site in Baltimore since 2024. Fr. Gould also served on the faculty of St. Mary’s, Roland Park, as Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, spiritual director, and formation faculty member.

Fr. Gould’s academic formation is notable. He holds pontifical theological degrees with distinction, a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and is completing doctoral studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, with research deeply rooted in the Christological and spiritual theology of Jean-Jacques Olier and the French School.

Fr. Gould will succeed the Reverend Phillip J. Brown, PSS, JD, JCD, who will retire on June 30, 2026, after ten years of faithful service. Fr. Moore stated, “The Province is profoundly grateful to Fr. Brown for his decade of devoted service as President-Rector of St. Mary’s, Roland Park. He has guided the institution with wisdom, steadiness, and fidelity during a period of significant challenge and transition, and his leadership has left an enduring mark on the life of the Seminary and University.”

Some older readers of Update will remember the late Fr. William J. Lee, PSS, who served as President of St. Mary’s Seminary & University from 1972 to 1980. During his tenure, Fr. Lee worked closely with his younger colleague Fr. Frederick J. Cwiekowski, PSS, who served as rector of St. Mary’s in Roland Park, Maryland, from 1974 to 1977. When Fr. Lee died on February 19, 2012, he left a sizeable legacy to St. Mary’s with the intention that it would lead eventually to the establishment of a faculty chair in honor of Fr. Cwiekowski.

In August 2026, Fr. Cwiekowski will celebrate his ninetieth birthday, and so some of his former students who became Sulpicians decided to fulfill Fr. Lee’s wish, and, with an additional donation from the Sulpician community, St. Mary’s established the Fr. Frederick Cwiekowski Chair in Systematic Theology. The Chair was announced on February 7, and first professor to hold it will be named this coming summer.

An alumnus of St. Mary’s, Fr. Cwiekowski was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1962 and became a Sulpician two years later. After an initial seminary assignment and the completion of an MA in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, he was assigned to further graduate studies at the University of Louvain where he earned the STD in 1972. His primary area of interest was ecclesiology, and his doctoral thesis was published by Louvain University Press in 1971 under the title, The English Bishops and the First Vatican Council.

In 1966, while completing his doctoral thesis, Fr. Cwiekowski joined the faculty at St. Mary’s in Roland Park, where he taught systematic theology, served as a spiritual director, and later was rector for three challenging years in the wake of Vatican II.

As a professor, he was highly energetic, always well prepared, and demanding. One of his former students, Thomas Hurst, PSS, said “I found his enthusiasm for theology inspiring and contagious. His courses laid a solid foundation for further study, reflection, and prayer.” Many of his former students can testify that they learned a lot in his classes. He gave good example of careful scholarship, loyalty to Catholic teaching, and intellectual balance. He was also highly regarded as a spiritual director and preacher, and, like his mentor Fr. Lee, he had a deep commitment to social justice.

After 25 years at St. Mary’s, in 1991 Fr. Cwiekowski was transferred to St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, where he continued to teach systematic theology and served as a formator. While there he wrote a second book on ecclesiology titled The Beginnings of the Church, published by Paulist Press in 1987.

After his retirement in 2009, he assisted part-time at St. Patrick’s until 2014 when he moved to Catonsville, Maryland. Since then, he has assisted at local parishes and continued his theological research and writing.

In 2018, Liturgical Press published his third book, titled The Church: Theology in History.
For his many contributions to priestly formation, especially through his teaching and scholarship, the U.S. Province of the Sulpicians thanks Fr. Cwiekowski and congratulates him on the establishment of the Fr. Frederick Cwiekowski Chair in Systematic Theology.

Thomas R. Ulshafer, PSS

Leo XIV, First American Pope, May 8, 2025, Rome, The Vatican.

Dear Confreres, et al.,

I am writing to you this early afternoon on May 9th, from the Maison Saint Sulpice, Paris. Last evening, while concluding my visit with Father Peter Kwaleyela, PSS at Maynooth (St. Patrick’s Pontifical University), Ireland, he and I shared the moment of great anticipation and joy at seeing, first, the white smoke billowing from the Vatican chimney, and the subsequent formal announcement: Habemus Papam!

It had been discreetly circulated, hopefully even, among the cognoscenti in France, Ireland, and no doubt, the United States, that the American Cardinal Robert Prevost, O.S.A., the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, was favored among those gathered in conclave as the potential successor to Pope Francis.

Aware of this, I dared to hope that the next Bishop of Rome would be an American. As we strained to hear the name being announced formally, I could barely make out Robert Prevost! Could it be true?

Moments later, Leo XIV emerged on the Loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. Indeed, incredibly, it was Robert Prevost, O.S.A, of Chicago, Illinois, the revered Augustinian priest, and canon lawyer; former Prior General, and Peruvian bishop, the Cardinal Prefect –Leo XIV. He seemed as overwhelmed as were we, all! The first Pope from the United States!

In this Year of Hope, the Conclave had indeed given the Church, and the world renewed hope as this venerable, humble priest moved forward emotionally to greet those thousands, gathered in St. Peter’s Square, and all of us, millions, at great distances. You could not help but be touched by his joy and his humility as he greeted the throngs that embraced him—enthusiastically, joyfully, affectionately.

Confident, vigorous, and, yes, seemingly youthful, the 69-year-old Pontiff, began his address to the cheering throng in Italian: “Peace be with all of you! He, then, went on to express both continuity and challenge as he exclaimed: Together, we must try to find out how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, establishes dialogues.

Please join me in praying for our new Holy Father, “May God grant him wisdom, joy, peace of mind, courage, and the fraternity of brothers, as he assumes the mantle of the Vicar of Christ.”

Let us also join our voices in prayer with that of our Holy Father, Leo XIV, as he concluded: "And [pray] for peace throughout the world. And let's ask for this special grace from Mary, our mother."

Oremus pro invicem.

Fraternally, in Christ,

Father Daniel F. Moore, PSS Provincial Superior
Society of St Sulpice Province of the United States

Auspice Maria.

New Rector for St. Anthony’s–Kachebere Major Seminary

Very Rev. Shayne Craig, PSS and Rev. Enoch Kanjira, PSS, Rector of St. Anthony’s Kachebere

Fr. Enoch Eric Kanjira, PSS, was appointed rector of the historical St. Anthony’s Kachebere Major Seminary, Mchinji, Malawi, on July 1, 2024, becoming the third Sulpician to head the prestigious seminary. He took over from Fr. Peter Kwaleyela, PSS, who has been rector for three years and is now pursuing doctoral studies at Maynooth Pontifical University in Ireland. Until his appointment, Fr. Kanjira was formator and Spiritual Director at Emmaus Spirituality Centre in Lusaka, Zambia.

Born on August 27, 1971, in Chiradzulu, Malawi, Fr. Kanjira was ordained for the Archdiocese of Blantyre in Malawi on July 5, 1997. He served in different positions such as Assistant Parish Priest, teacher and bursar, rector, and formator as well as Archbishop’s secretary, Financial Administrator, and Vocations Director in his home diocese before he was appointed rector of Kachebere Major Seminary in 2017. He was the acting rector when the Society of St. Sulpice was requested to manage the philosophical seminary.

After working with the Society of St. Sulpice for a few years, Fr. Kanjira received a vocation within a vocation—to become a Sulpician and commit his life to formation of seminarians and ongoing formation of priests. When he joined the Society as a candidate, he was assigned to Emmaus Spirituality Centre in Lusaka where he has been for three years.

Fr. Kanjira brings significant experience in administration and formation to the seminary. He is a well-organized and meticulous priest, not only in Liturgy, which is his area of specialization, but also in his way of priestly life. He displays confidence in his work and always gives a good example in formation. Fr. Kanjira has a licentiate in Sacred Liturgy from Pontificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo in Rome. He has also done courses in Formation of Formators to the Priesthood and Consecrated Life at Gregoriana in Rome, Teaching Methodology under the University of Zambia, as well as Diplomatic Practice, Protocol, and Public Relations under the Zambia Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations.

During the smooth handover in July 2024, witnessed by the Regional Superior Fr. Victor Shikaputo, PSS, the incoming rector thanked the Society for giving him the opportunity to serve once again at St. Anthony’s. The Regional Superior congratulated the new rector and thanked Fr. Kwaleyela the outgoing rector for the work and commitment to Kachebere as rector and wished him well as he undertakes the journey for his doctoral studies. Fr. Shikaputo assured both Fathers Kwaleyela and Kanjira of the prayerful support of all the members of the Society.

Upper right: Rev. Victor Shikaputo, PSS, Regional Superior, Very Rev. Shayne Craig, PSS, Superior General, and Very Rev. Daniel F. Moore, PSS, Provincial Superior, on the occasion of Fr. Craig’s first visit to the U.S. Sulpician presence in Central SE Africa.

Below: Rev. Victor Shikaputo, PSS, Regional Superior, Very Rev. Shayne Craig, PSS, Superior General,  Fr. Enoch Eric Kanjira, PSS, and Very Rev. Daniel F. Moore, PSS, Provincial Superior, on the occasion of Fr. Craig’s first visit to the U.S. Sulpician presence in Central SE Africa.

Victor Shikaputo, PSS
Regional Superior

McGivney Propaedeutic House of Formation Welcomes Inaugural Class

Very Rev. Daniel F. Moore, PSS, Archbishop William E. Lori, Rev. Shawn D. Gould, PSS, and Fr. James Yeakel, OSFS, with the inaugural class at the Covenant Mass on August 28, 2024, at St. Mary’s Seminary & University.

In August, McGivney House welcomed eight men from Baltimore, Buffalo, Erie, Scranton, and Wilmington to begin their formation for the priesthood. After Mass and a dinner with their families, we dove into an orientation to seminary life, followed by an opening retreat led by Fr. Ron Witherup, PSS, that invited us to look at the development of our relationship with the Lord through the eyes of St. Paul.

The propaedeutic stage is a leveling-up experience designed to transition the new men from their varied family, educational, work, and religious backgrounds to sharing the basic knowledge, skills, and virtues on which seminary life depends. They all share a love of the Lord and His Church, and they are learning to live with and help each other acclimate to seminary life. We quickly settled into the horarium that structures our days. We begin at 7 a.m. with silent prayer in the chapel followed by Morning Prayer. Except for the apostolate days, the men have class in the morning followed by Mass. Their courses comprise introductions to scripture, the spiritual life, the basics of Catholic doctrine, and the skills of human formation. The afternoons are free for spiritual direction, formation advising, reading, and other activities. We come back together at 5 p.m. for a period of adoration, followed by Evening Prayer and dinner. Some evenings we have conferences on a variety of topics related to life in the Church. In the fall, for example, Fr. Thomas Ulshafer, PSS, gave us a masterful overview of the styles of architecture used and developed by the Church over the course of the centuries. Most days end with Night Prayer at 9 p.m., which starts a period of silence that continues until chapel the next morning.

While the site at Paca Street was being completed, St. Mary’s very graciously hosted us. Then in January we were able to move in.

Archbishop William E. Lori blessed the common area of the new Blessed Michael J. McGivney Propaedeutic House of Formation.

On January 23, Archbishop William E. Lori blessed our new house and the altar for the oratory, accompanied by a number of the confrères, key people involved in the planning and construction of the new house, and representatives of Baltimore and our Seton Hill neighborhood. Mr. Patrick Kelly, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, also attended the blessing and presented a portrait of our patron, Blessed Fr. Michael McGivney to the House.

Archbishop William E. Lori blessed the Oratory while Rev. James Bors, Pastor of Our Lady of the Chesapeake, Lake Shore, St. Frances, and Riviera Beach, seminarian, Drew Meisel (Archdiocese of Baltimore), and Patrick E. Kelly, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, join in the prayers.

Patrick E. Kelly, Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus presented a portrait of Blessed Michael J. McGivney to Very Rev. Daniel F. Moore, PSS, Archbishop William E. Lori, and Rev. Shawn D. Gould, PSS, Director of the McGivney House.

The year is moving quickly to its conclusion. We’re looking forward to our capstone experience—a Marian and priestly pilgrimage in France, with a retreat led by Fr. Lawrence B. Terrien, PSS. Please keep us in your prayers!

Shawn D. Gould, PSS
Director, McGivney Propaedeutic House of Formation

Tyler Tate, President of Lewis Contractors, David Gaudreau, Managing Principal of EwingCole, and Gino Gemignani, the Sulpician representative, joined with their colleagues to celebrate the completion of the project.

Bishop Fredrik Hansen Appointed Coadjutor of Oslo, Norway

Rev. Ronald D. Witherup, PSS, Rev. Paul A. Maillet, PSS, Very Rev. Daniel F. Moore, PSS, and Rev. Phillip J. Brown, PSS, with Bishop Fredrik Hansen.

On November 1, 2024, the Solemnity of All Saints, the Holy Father Pope Francis appointed Sulpician confrere Msgr. Fredrik Hansen, PSS (Cand.), JCD as Coadjutor Bishop of Oslo in his native Norway.

Msgr. Hansen had been a candidate for the U.S. Province of the Society of Saint Sulpice since 2022 and was serving as a faculty member and Dean of Seminarians at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore. Before joining the Sulpicians, Msgr. Hansen, who was ordained a priest in 2007, had served in the Diplomatic Corps of the Holy See, most recently as Secretary and Deputy at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See at the United Nations in New York.

Fr. Daniel Moore, Provincial Superior, said “It is with mixed emotions that I make this announcement, as it will mean losing a cherished colleague in priestly formation. However, the U.S. Province is honored to know that one of our confreres has been chosen to serve as a Bishop in his home diocese.”

In addition to the Provincial, a contingent of Sulpicians, faculty, and seminarians from St. Mary’s Seminary traveled to Oslo for Msgr. Hansen’s January 18 episcopal ordination.

Rev. Ronald D. Witherup, PSS, Rev. Paul A. Maillet, PSS, Very Rev. Daniel F. Moore, PSS, and Rev. Phillip J. Brown, PSS, along with Seminarians from St. Mary’s Seminary & University with Bishop Fredrik Hansen.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, was the principal co-consecrator at St. Olav’s Cathedral. Bishop Hansen, a well-respected canonist, selected “Lex tua veritas” – “Your law is truth” – as his episcopal motto. He will automatically succeed Bishop Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, CRSA, in leading the increasingly diverse Catholic community within a predominantly Lutheran Norway, when the latter steps down.

Ad multos annos!

Very Rev. Daniel F. Moore, P.S.S., S.T.D.
Provincial Superior, Society of St. Sulpice, Province of the United States

New Rector Named at St. Kizito House of Formation

Fr. Eugene Hampande Mwanza, PSS, was named Rector of St. Kizito House of Formation, March 2023, and took up residence in May 2023 while still teaching at St. Dominic’s Major Seminary. He follows Fr. Cornelius Hankomoone, PSS, as rector. Fr. Cornelius has initiated a special Sulpician ongoing formation project in a new parish, St. Cecilia, in the Bbondo in Monze Diocese.

The Society of St. Sulpice runs the house of formation on behalf of Gaborone Diocese in Botswana. While doing formation at St. Kizito seminarians go to study philosophy at St. Bonaventure University College for the Franciscans. The university attracts many candidates from different religious orders and has an international character as there several foreign students studying there.

Fr. Eugene readily accepted the challenge to serve as rector at St. Kizito. Though rector, he continues to teach, adjunct, Church History and Patrology at St. Dominic.

He describes the St. Kizito community as wonderful one comprising four seminarians (three Tswana and one South African) and Fr. Victor Simutonga, PSS, in residence studying at St. Bonaventure’s. The intake will grow to seven next academic year.

The annex expansion at St. Kizito’s by Archbishop Nubuasah, of Gaborone, while Fr. Hankomoone was rector, has provided more accommodations for students and formators. There are, however, some major challenges in the main house

including managing the high electricity bills, maintenance of the buildings, and upgrading the kitchen, and air conditioning the common rooms (TV and study rooms). Fr. Eugene hopes to set up the office for the Rector with a new computer. These initiatives and other needs are part of the rector’s conversations with Archbishop Nubuasah, as St. Kizito is owned by the Diocese of Gaborone in Botswana. Fr. Mwanza has a good working relationship with both the former rector and the archbishop as well as with Fr. Daniel Moore, PSS, Provincial.

Victor C. Shikaputo, PSS
Regional Superior

Fr. Thomas R. Ulshafer, PSS, Retires as General Treasurer of the Society

After many years of service (2016–2023), Fr. Thomas R. Ulshafer, PSS, informed Very Rev. Shayne Craig, PSS, Superior General of The Priests of St. Sulpice, his desire to step down from the position of General Treasurer for the Society.

During his time as Treasurer, significant work has been done regarding investments, to ensure the economic stability of the Generalate. for the instruction, formation, and retirement), as well as to recognize and protect the patrimony, by way of improving the Archives (with projects to improve the physical housing of the Archives, the undertaking of their digitization, the improvement of personnel services, etc.).

Fr. Robert J. Cro, PSS, was nominated and approved as the new General Treasurer effective January 1, 2024. Fr. Cro has a background in Classical Archeology and is an alumnus of St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore. He has a licentiate in Church History from the Pontifical Gregorian University. Currently, Fr. Cro is the Coordinator of Human Formation and Dean of Men at Theological College of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He is a member of the Province Finance Committee.

At the conclusion of December 2023 General Council meetings in Paris, which included the three provincials, the general treasurer, and his successor, Fr. Daniel Moore, PSS, US Provincial Superior, hosted a celebratory dinner to congratulate Fr. Ulshafer for his many years of service as general treasurer. The US confreres attending the meetings in Paris joined the host and honoree at a well-regarded brasserie chosen for the event. Fr. Robert Cro was also welcomed as the new general treasurer.

Fr. Melvin C. Blanchette, PSS, Receives Papal Honor

Copyright 2023 Catholic Review Media, Baltimore. Used with permission

Throughout decades of priestly ministry to the Church, Fr. Blanchette, a member of the Society of the Priests of St. Sulpice since 1972, is a well-known author, psychologist, and counselor. Fr. Blanchette positively affected and strengthened the ongoing human and spiritual formation of countless priests, religious, and seminarians throughout the United States and Canada.

Whether ministering to seminarians, priests and religious as a seminary formator, spiritual director, mentor, or retreat director, and later as the rector of Theological College, the National Seminary at The Catholic University of America (2007–2011), Fr. Blanchette has been a positive influence on many lives.

Described as a deeply dedicated and thoughtful priest, Fr. Mel commented, “When Archbishop Lori called me with the news, I was deeply honored and humbled to learn that I was chosen by the Holy Father to receive this award. It is such a wonderful feeling to receive this recognition for serving the Holy Father and the Church.”

Fr. Daniel F. Moore, PSS, Provincial, added, “We offer our heartiest congratulations to our confrere as a recipient of the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal. We are grateful for Mel’s faithful ministry in initial and ongoing formation and for his dedication to the Society and to the Church. Fr. Moore accompanied Fr. Blanchette at the dinner hosted by Archbishop Lori for the papal honorees at his residence the Friday evening prior the presentation of honors, which were conferred the following morning at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.