Mount St. Mary’s University and the Daughters of Charity have launched a new joint endeavor in Emmitsburg, Maryland–the Seton Dubois Initiative.
Named for their Emmitsburg founders (Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and Father John DuBois, S.S.) the Seton Dubois Initiative aspires to be a collaborative effort between Mount St. Mary’s University, the Daughters of Charity, and others who profess a common and shared mission to serve the Church.
The Initiative will be committed to enhancing and promoting the New Evangelization as called for by the current and two most recent pontiffs—Francis, Benedict XVI, and St. John Paul II.
Specifically, Seton Dubois will strive to:
- Share the legacy of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Father John Dubois
- Increase visits and spiritual pilgrimages to the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes at Mount St. Mary’s University
- Develop innovative education materials to assist parish administrators and others who oversee parish programs such as RCIA, Parish School of Religion, and more
- Host leadership workshops and seminars for continuing education of clergy, religious, and lay leaders of the Church from local and (arch)diocesan levels
- Publish innovative and new Catholic education materials
- Develop community service opportunities for Mount St. Mary’s students and seminarians
Mount St. Mary’s and Daughters share a long history. The Sulpician priests were kind to Mother Seton in Baltimore as she began to teach her very first students, and it was the University’s founder, Father John DuBois, S.S., who invited St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and her original Sisters to attend Mass at what was then known as Saint-Mary-on-the-Hill (Mount St. Mary’s Seminary). Father Simon Gabriel Bruté, S.S., another Sulpician priest, soon joined Father DuBois in Emmitsburg, and Father Bruté served as the Spiritual Advisor to the first Sisters