Archbishop of Baltimore William E. Lori has reappointed Rev. Msgr. Andrew R. Baker, S.T.D., to a second five-year term as rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. This decision was made with the consent of Bishop Alfred Schlert of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in consultation with Mount St. Mary’s University President Timothy E. Trainor, Ph.D., and with the unanimous support of the Seminary Board. The reappointment is effective July 15, 2020.
“I am grateful to Msgr. Baker for his able and faithful leadership in the ministry of priestly formation and for his care of the seminarians, faculty, administration, and staff of the Seminary,” said Archbishop Lori, S’77, who also serves as chair of the Seminary Board. “As an alumnus, I am especially appreciative of Msgr. Baker’s service on Mary’s mountain.”
“I look forward to continuing to work with Msgr. Baker, both as rector and university vice president, to ensure the Seminary’s stellar formation of priests rooted in the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral experience,” said President Trainor. “He is a humble man of God who through his skillful leadership has shepherded the Seminary into a period of growth and innovation.” In addition to serving as rector, Baker is also a vice president of the university.
During Baker’s first five years at the Seminary, enrollment at the second largest seminary in the country has risen to approximately 160, with seminarians from 14 states plus the District of Columbia and 8 countries. The Seminary also became the only Catholic seminary in the country to have an accredited ESL program; started its Go Forth Thanksgiving mission and made its Pastors & Stewards online learning modules widely available. In addition, the Seminary’s sudden and smooth transition to remote priestly formation this spring has received high marks.
“I am honored to continue as rector of the finest seminary in the country and humbled by the confidence Archbishop Lori, the Seminary Board, and President Trainor have in me,” Baker said. “As Pope Francis said, ‘priestly formation is decisive to the mission of the Church.’ I am privileged to be the shepherd and father of a seminary community that includes so many outstanding and holy people who strive to further the mission of the Church. I am grateful to God for the opportunity I have had over the past five years and I look forward to the next five.”