OTHAKALMANDAPAM, MYLERIPALAYAM POST, COIMBATORE – 641 032.
Good Shepherd Seminary, an Inter-Diocesan Major Seminary, is situated in a calm and serene place at Myleripalayam, 16 km away from the city of Coimbatore. This Major Seminary is the first of its kind in Tamilnadu, in that it has been entirely undertaken and staffed by the diocesan clergy. Positively reacting to the long-felt need to start another Major Seminary in Tamilnadu with the view to train priests to work in the dioceses of Tamilnadu and in the course of time to prepare missionary priests for North India, Africa and other places where there is dearth of priests, the Bishops of Tamilnadu requested the Holy See for permission to begin the Good Shepherd Seminary at Coimbatore.
The Sacred Congregation for Evangelization, in its decree dated May 8, 1982, graciously gave approval for the proposed new Major Seminary. In its Rescript approving the Statutes of the new Major Seminary, dated December 21, 1983, the whole purpose and ideal of the entire venture was beautifully summarized and pin-pointed: “In fact, the Statutes present an extremely sound and deeply spiritual picture of seminary formation, insisting on those aspects which should produce priests of profound commitment to Christ, to their vocation and to the Church, which is ever to remain their Mother.” It is for this reason that the new seminary was called after Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, so that it would be the seed-bed of future Good Pastors.
The six Bishops namely, Coimbatore, Kumbakonam, Ootacamund, Pondicherry, Salem and Thanjavur formed the Board of Administration. The Seminary was officially inaugurated on June 29, 1992. From 1997 the Bishop of Dharmapuri has joined the Board of Administration. It has been affiliated to St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bengaluru in 2004 to obtain a degree of Bachelorate in Theology for those who complete four years of theology by a decree from Rome.
The Board of Administration in its Annual meeting held in 2007 decided to admit students from other dioceses of Tamil Nadu and nearby states for the formation to priesthood. The Seminary celebrated its Silver Jubilee of its beginning in the year 2008 to thank the Lord for the graces showered upon this institute and the priests those who have been formed from here. The Board of Administration has decided to start the Propaedeutic Programme in the same campus from the academic year 2014-2015. Thus the Propaedeutic Programme (Intensive Spiritual Formation) was started in the same campus since 19 June, 2014 with a special Director. One Nivas is given to the students of Propaedeutic Programme and its Director. Taking into consideration the desire and direction of Pope Francis in his Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium and the Congregation for Catholic Education in the instruction to distinguish the academic programme and administration of the faculty from the governance and administration of the major seminary, the process to establish Good Shepherd Institute of Theology was initiated in the academic year 2022-2023. On February 22, 2023, the Dicastery for Culture and Education has granted permission to erect Good Shepherd Institute of Theology as an Ecclesiastical Higher Education Institution, affiliating it ad quinquennium experimenti gratia to the Theological Faculty of St. Peter's Pontifical Institute, in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Instruction on the Affiliation of Institute of Higher Studies (Art. 17; 10§ 2), and approving ad quinquennium experimenti gratia the Statutes of the affiliated Institute.
The vision of this seminary is to facilitate the seminarian to become a man of God with integrated personality and pastoral sensitivity who, imbibed with kingdom values, will exercise his prophetic role to bring about social transformation.
Our mission is to form spiritually and materially well fashioned priests for the service of their various dioceses, religious congregations and the universal church. Ours is the mission of raising priests who are poised to bring God's flock to greener pastures.
The seminarian will be helped to gain God experience through lively and meaningful celebration of the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, personal prayer and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, meditative reading of the Word of God and lives of Saints. This God experience will be strengthened by monthly recollections, Sacrament of reconciliation and annual retreat.
The seminarian will be enabled to develop his relational skills, emotional maturity and collaborative spirit and live the kingdom values through Nivas programmes. The seminarian will be made aware of the injustice done to the poor and the marginalized through classes, camps, weekend ministry, oratory and outreach programmes. The seminarian will have an experience of the plight of the poor and the marginalized by doing the household works himself and living a simple way of life. The seminarian will be motivated to enrich himself with the prophetic spirit of Christ through classes, conferences, spiritual directions and liturgical celebrations.
To offer the integral formation of the students through systematic study and reflection leading to witnessing life through service.
To foster theological and philosophical reflections on the pastoral, missiological and canonical problems facing the Church in Tamilnadu, India today.
To promote and encourage genuine scientific research work in philosophical and ecclesiastical studies.
To increase scientific study and investigation of the cultural, moral, religious and philosophical patrimony of India with special reference to Tamilnadu society.
To participate in the philosophical and ecclesiastical debate to give a new look and to have a new orientation to the world they are going to serve in the future.
To motivate the candidates to make efforts and bring out talents buried in them, and to pool in resources so as to take the maximum advantage of the facilities available in India and especially in Tamilnadu, for the philosophical and ecclesiastical formation of candidates to priesthood and religious life.
To make the academics both scientific and contextual and to make the intellectual training current and contextual.
To maintain balance between theory and practice.