is the essential link between the study of theology and the appreciation of fine arts is at the root of the Church's insistence that the education of future priests include an artistic component which is understood as integral to their total formation.

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Above all, care must be taken that students are...given a true and authentic formation of their minds and their feelings, molding them to know and appreciate the better musical works of the past and also to know how to choose soundly and correctly from among present day experiments...(the seminarians) are to be taught about the history and development of sacred art and about the sound principles underlying the production of its works.  As a result they will be able to appreciate and preserve the church's venerable monuments and be in a position to aid, by good advice, artists who are engaged in producing works of art.

In the over one hundred years since its founding, St. Joseph's Seminary has been known for the high quality of its musical and fine arts programs.  This results in priests whose understanding and sensitivity to the role of music and fine arts in the lives of all people benefit both the Catholic community and the general public.  The results of the Dunwoodie program are evidenced in the outstanding musical programs, both sacred and secuar which are found in parishes throughout the Archdiocese of New York and in the fine architectural design and artistic decoration of the churches and other parochial buildings of New York. The most vivid testimony to the cultural education provided by St. Joseph's Seminary is the musical and artistic sense which marks the priests who are the Dunwoodie alumni.  The Dunwoodie priest appreciates the variety of cultural opportunity and challenges posed by life in New York.

The establishment of a Chair in Music and Art will enable St. Joseph's Seminary to continue and further this tradition of musical and artistic excellence as follows:

1. The Chair will enable Dunwoodie to engage musical and visual artists, visiting scholars, and composers, so as to broaden the seminarians' understanding of both the heritage and future of the Church's musical and artistic articulation of the human search for God.  Visiting scholars and artists will also take part in the various public performances and other arts education programs which the Seminary sponsors.
2. The Chair will enable our alumni to better express the Catholic artistic and musical heritage to our multi-cultural community.
3. The Chair will enable Dunwoodie to maintain its Casavant Frères Organ and upgrade and maintain its already fine collection of musical and art education materials, especially those musical materials housed in the Corrigan Memorial Library Listening Room and the artworks found throughout the Seminary.
4. As education is best achieved through doing, the chair will enable Dunwoodie to commission original artistic and musical works, while involving the students in the process of artistic composition.
5. The Chair will open the possibility for Dunwoodie to send students abroad to engage in education in music and fine arts.

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For more information about how you can support the Chair in Music and Art
contact Mrs. Jeannie Stapleton Smith - Development Office at St. Joseph's Seminary.