Honouring the Past. Celebrating Lifelong Vocation. Preserving the Legacy of St. Peter’s.
Welcome back to St. Peter’s Seminary. Whether you graduated recently or decades ago, your presence, witness, and prayers remain part of this sacred community. This page gathers all the key ways you can stay connected, contribute, and celebrate your vocation journey.
Fr. Michael Prieur
The Michael R. Prieur Seminary Archives of St. Peter’s Seminary, was dedicated on October 12, 2011. The Archives are responsible for the appraisal, acquisition, preservation and use of Seminary records of enduring value, which pertain to the origin, history, growth and spirit of the Seminary as well as the records of individuals and organizations associated with the Seminary.
In November 2008 the archival collection was transferred to the lower level of the A.P. Mahoney Library, which is a more conducive location to the preservation and security of our holdings. The work of classifying and describing our holdings is in progress. Once records have been processed, they may become available for research purposes.
You may contact Fr. Michael Prieur by email at: mprieur@dol.ca for further information on the Archives of St. Peter’s Seminary.
Find details here: Policies
Stories of Service, Celebration, and Lifelong Vocation
Stay connected with the St. Peter’s Seminary alumni community through stories that highlight milestones in ministry, reflections on faith in action, and messages from Seminary leadership. Whether it’s a pastoral anniversary, an award, or a personal journey, each story is a reminder of the enduring mission we share.
Frs. Rex Welmonte -’99, Bart van Roijen -’97, Pat Monette – ’90, Mike Prieur – ’65, Wayne Pflliger – ’75, Marcel Côté – ’02, Jim Ratcliffe – ’65, Peter Tompkins – ’84
Bishop Greg Bittman of the Diocese of Nelson and Fr. Michael Prieur
Mini Reunion of St. Peter’s Seminary Grads – June 2018
A Mini Reunion of St. Peter’s Seminary’s grads took place at the June 4 to June 8, 2018, Annual Retreat of the Priests of the Diocese of Nelson, at Cache Creek, British Columbia.
Holy Hockey: The Story of Canada’s Flying Fathers
The Flying Fathers Hockey Club began in 1964 in North Bay, Ontario. A group of priests from the North were brought together to play a team from local radio station CFCH to raise funds for local charities. It was a huge success, drew more than 3,000 fans, and was the talk of the community. As some of the priests said, “It was better than bingo.”
The following year, they broke the attendance record at North Bay’s Memorial Gardens, drawing 5,300 fans. They were joined by Pembroke Diocese priest Father Pat Blake, who remained with the team until its forty-fifth year. Through those years, they travelled across Canada, into the USA, and to Europe. These “Globetrotters of hockey” had an audience with the Pope, compiled more than 900 wins, and lost only a handful of games. They raised more than $4 million for charity, not to mention the sheer joy and laughter they brought to their audiences with their hilarious antics on the ice, “playing and praying for a better world.”
And it was at times hilarious. Read about the many ways a goal could be scored, some worth six points! If you saw them in action, you’ll have a smile on your face as you remember their antics. And, if this is the first time you’ve been introduced to the Flying
Fathers, the chuckles and outright laughter will be worth the price of the book. Enjoy!
On Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018, Fr. Richard Tremblay (‘66) and I attended the special Armistice Memorial Service at St. Peter’s Cathedral in London, Ontario. It was magnificent, featuring several choirs of the world class Amabile Singers of London, Ontario.
During the service, the Cathedral Basilica rector, Fr. Jim Mockler (‘71) led a magnificent prayer, all decked out in his London Police Chaplain’s uniform! After the service, we duly thanked him, and prevailed upon Deacon Guy Alden (2011) to take a picture of all three of us.
We all agreed that this was a worthy “Milestone” to be sent out to everyone. Congratulations to Fr. Mockler for work well done!
Fr. Mike Prieur (‘65)
Left: Fr. Richard Trembly, Centre: Fr. Michael Prieur, Right: Fr. Jim Mockler
90 Years Young on February 21, 2019
Congratulations to Msgr. Donald McAndrews who joins the “90s Club” on February 21, 2019. He studied at St. Peter’s Seminary for six years and was ordained by Most Rev. Henry T. Klonowski, the Auxiliary Bishop of Scranton, PA on June 5, 1954. He is the last surviving member of our illustrious Scranton Diocese Alumni Chapter which had over twenty-five members in it.
Recently, I have had a number of lengthy phone conversations with Monsignor, and am amazed at how active he has been, even in his senior years. He has served in a number of parishes in the diocese. He was instrumental in a complete renovation of the 100-year old parish of St. Aloysius, completed in 1993, for more than one million dollars. For thirty years he served as the Executive Director of Catholic Social Services, ending in 1992.
He is proud of being responsible for developing many new programs, including The Bridge Youth Program, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Court Advocate Program, Gabriel House, and Project HEAD for the elderly. He has served on the board of directors of more than nine different health care institutions and agencies, not to mention half a dozen diocesan councils and committees.
He is also the founder of St. Vincent de Paul Kitchen. They bought a garage in Wilkes-Barre for the kitchen location. Various labour unions contributed materials and labour for its restoration, installing a kitchen and dining room area, along with a garage and free clothing room on the first floor. It opened in 1983 and continues to serve 400 guests every day since.
He is especially happy about being a co-founder of Ecumenical Enterprises, Inc., along with Rev. Dr. Jule Ayers, the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Wilkes-Barre. They addressed housing needs for the elderly and low-income families in the area, building nine high rises on the Meadows Campus in Dallas. They began with $24,000 and now their assets are worth more than $50 million, employing more than 300 employees serving more than 2000 people every year. A new Meadows opened in 2018 as part of the 50th anniversary of the Founding of Ecumenical Enterprises in 1968. Wow!
Monsignor has received three awards for his outstanding work for the poor and the needy. Even in retirement, he celebrated Mass and heard confessions at the Cathedral, even offering the T.V. Mass at 12:10 at St. John the Baptist Parish in Larksville and St. Mary’s Parish in Dunsmore.
Here is one of our alumni members, noted for “getting the job done”, and doing it with laughter and joy as he welcomed everyone whom he met. His picture, taken in November 2018, beams this out to us.
If any of our own alumni are traveling in the Scranton area, I am sure he would appreciate a “pop call” and be most willing to hand on some of his vast wisdom as to how to make the gospel applicable in our parishes today, especially to us seniors! Even some kind of conference call to him could reap rich benefits for many of our dioceses. (570-207-5586, or 570-357-2981) He is easy to talk to!
He continues to be happily retired, living at 1600 Green Ridge Road, Dunmore, PA 18509. He is looking forward to hitting the big 100! Ad multos annos!
Fr. Mike Prieur
I proudly attended the ordinations of two St. Peter’s seminarians in St. Boniface on May 31 and June 1, 2019: John Baptiste Nguyen to the Diaconate, and Peter Lê Văn Ngũ to the Priesthood (‘19). It was a Vietnamese Feast in every way: deep faith rooted in the sacrifice of leaving their native country, formal attire worthy of royalty, jubilant music and symbolic dancing, and meals with mounds of delicious courses. There was an adroit juggling of Vietnamese, French and English in all of the celebrations, helped by overheads, so that everyone was included. Our rector, Fr. Steve Wlusek (‘86) presented each of the two ordinandi at the outset of their ordination ceremonies in a wonderfully personal manner, even with a touch of humour. (This
never happened in the old days!) We were also blessed with the attendance of Fr. Pio Beorchia (‘94), our seminary vice-rector, and Fr. John Pirt (‘88), Fr. Grayson Hope (‘17) and Fr. David Avila (‘17), and Fr. Paul Kim (‘17), classmates, and friends of the ordinandi. Absolute joy from the Holy Spirit permeated us all.
(Left to right: Fr. Richard Arsenault, Fr. Robert Polz, Msgr. Stan Jaworski, Fr. Dominic Yuen, Fr. Paul
Tinguely, Fr. Michel Nault, Fr. Mike Prieur, Fr. Michael Wollbaum)
