Colleagues
say farewell to local theologian ready for service in D.C.
By
Christie L. Chicoine
CS&T Staff Writer
Father
J. Brian Bransfield — formerly a professor at St. Charles Borromeo
Seminary in Wynnewood — started working Dec. 17 as a specialist
for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Evangelization
and Catechesis in Washington, D.C.
The Philadelphia Archdiocese priest said he looks forward to helping develop
and implement plans to fulfill the secretariat’s mission, and he
intends to use the late Pope John Paul II’s call for a new evangelization
as a blueprint.
Father Bransfield was ordained in 1994 at the Cathedral Basilica of SS.
Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. His first assignment was parochial vicar
of St. Andrew Parish in Newtown. Assignments have also included faculty
member at Archbishop Wood Catholic High School in Warminster and student
priest at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute in Rome and Washington,
D.C. From the institute, he received both a licentiate and doctorate in
sacred theology with a specialization in marriage and family.
Since 2005, Father Bransfield had served on the faculty at St. Charles
Seminary as an assistant professor of moral theology. There, he taught
introduction to sacramental theology; morality and spirituality; the morality
section in the Catechism of the Catholic Church; sexuality and marriage
in Catholic teaching; practical theological concepts; John Paul II’s
theology of the body, and the nuptial mystery.
At St. Charles, Father Bransfield taught in both the college and theology
divisions, as well as in the Religious Studies Division, the Catechetical
Institute and the Theological Institute for Priests.
“Father Bransfield is an excellent teacher in the field of moral
theology,” said Msgr. Joseph G. Prior, rector of St. Charles Seminary.
“He has taught many courses here at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
as well as offering lectures in parishes and other seminaries. He has
served the Seminary well and will do fine work for the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops.”
Victor P. Ingalls, a second-year pre-theology seminarian at St. Charles,
also holds Father Bransfield in high esteem.
“We all are definitely going to miss him at the Seminary,”
said Ingalls, 23, who is who is studying for the Archdiocese of Mobile,
Ala.
“When he teaches, he speaks to your heart and your mind at the same
time. You can tell in his lectures that he’s spent a lot time meditating
on the subject.”
Ingalls also described Father Bransfield as sincere. “He’s
just really a favorite at the Seminary. He’s very down-to-earth
and he meets you where you are.”
Among Father Bransfield’s instructions that struck Ingalls in a
special way was the concept that “the teachings of the Catholic
Church are not just teachings that tell us what not to do,” Ingalls
said. “He fundamentally helped us to realize that the teachings
of the Church are a ‘yes’ to life, to love, to goodness, to
happiness.”
CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine may be reached at (215) 587-2468
or cchicoin@adphila.org.
To
subscribe now, click here.