Message from the Rector

Welcome to the website of the Seminary of Christ the King. The Benedictines of Westminster Abbey have had the responsibility of guiding the discernment and formation of men for the Catholic priesthood at the Seminary of Christ the King since September 1939. Our monastic charisms of community life and daily celebration of the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours in common introduce our seminarians into community life and the liturgy and form them as men of communion united in the Church’s worship of the Father.

With our strong emphasis on community life and a daily rhythm shaped by the liturgical cycle, seminarians experience, often for the first time in their lives, the richness of the Catholic Faith in all its intensity and beauty. The splendour of our natural surroundings, as we are located on a hilltop above the Fraser Valley, in no small way enhances the sense of wonder that we hope to instill in our seminarians here at SCK.

Committed to the four pillars of priestly formation, human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral, the formators and professors at the Seminary of Christ the King accompany the seminarians throughout their years of formation and assist them to integrate these facets of the whole man into their lives so that our ordained alumni are capable and zealous priests after the heart of Jesus.

Our Seminary offers both a four-year program in Philosophy, leading to a B.A. degree and a four-year Theology program with B.Th. and M.Div. degrees for those who meet the graduation requirements. Intellectual formation at SCK draws upon the fonts of Scripture, the Magisterium, Conciliar teaching and St. Thomas Aquinas. Our hope is that our seminarians will be men who think with the Church and are able to appreciate and appropriate into their hearts and minds that which is true, good and beautiful in both classical and contemporary thinking, literature and art.

Human formation at SCK occurs in formal settings such as lectures, conferences and personal direction and in informal ways such as are part of life in community. Students take responsibility for many household chores and share in the work of preparing and celebrating the liturgy.

We welcome inquiries from Catholic men who are interested in discerning a possible call to priesthood or consecrated life. We have three or four weekends each year for men to stay with us and find out something about seminary life and the joys and challenges of following Jesus’ call to come and follow Him and be fishers of men.

Rev. Matthew Gerlich OSB
Rector