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Father Sebastiano Viotti, a priest of the Archdiocese of Turin has been an invited
professor of the Alphonsian Academy
since 1994.
Father Viotti, an only child, was born in Sanfré, near Turin, Italy, in the province of Cuneo. A few days after the Italian armistice with the Allied troops, his father was caught by the Germans and sent to a concentration camp in Germany. This was the last time that the young Sebastiano or his mother ever saw or heard from Mr. Viotti again.
Ever since he was a child Father Sebastian wanted to become a priest. He greatly admired the example of the priests of his parish with whom he was constantly in touch. Having shared his vocational intention to his parish priest, a meeting was arranged for him with the superiors of the seminary. His parish priest was with him every step of the way during the period his time of discernment and formation.
He entered the archdiocesan minor seminary of Giaveno for his middle school studies, then went to the major seminary of Rivoli for Higher and passed his State examinations at the G.B. Gandino Lyceum in Bra. At the end of his theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood by the late Michele Cardinal Pellegrino on June 25, 1967.
As is usual for the young priests of the diocese of Turin, Father Sebastian spent his first year of priesthood studying Moral and Pastoral Theology at the Convitto della Consolata which radiated with the spirit of holiness and the intellectual and pastoral gifts of San Giuseppe Cafasso and the Blessed Alamanno, the founder of the Missionaries of the Consolata. He was then asked to continue his studies in moral theology in Rome. However, health problems made this impossible and he soon accepted a pastoral appointment instead. For a number of years he served as an associate pastor in parishes both in the outskirts of the town and in the city proper. In 1979 he was appointed pastor of the Church of San Giacomo Apostolo di Chieri, where he remains until this day.
Almost ten years later, in 1987, convinced that the decision would not harm his parish, since he was now well acquainted with all his parishioners, the pastoral program was well on its way and most of the ongoing projects had been completed, he obtained permission of his Archbishop to continue his studies in Moral Theology which had always been the object of his special interest.
"I wanted to continue my studies in moral theology not for specific academic purposes or because I wanted to change my way of serving the Church; what I wanted was to renew my knowledge, to deepen my studies in moral theology and follow a refresher course in order to be able to better face the numerous problems that are challenging the daily Christian life because of continuous cultural and scientific-technical changes. My specific desire was to have a better knowledge of how Moral Theology had developed after the Council, in order to put a systematic order into the various moral themes that I had been following during those years. One should not forget that in my priestly education, I had studied moral theology during the early years after the Council, when the use of moral manuals was still prevalent".
To pursue his desire to specialize in moral theology, Father Sebastian enrolled at The Alphonsian Academy. He finished his licenciate studies in 1990, and his Doctorate during the spring of 1994, when he defended his Doctoral Thesis entitled "The relation between morals and civil laws in the pre-conciliar manuals and in the post-conciliar texts: development of a doctrine accepted by the Church," under the direction of Professor Brian Johnstone C.Ss.R.
At the conclusion of his Advanced Studies, Father Sebastian was asked by the the Alphonsian Academy to teach Moral Theology as an invited professor. Despite the fact that Father Sebastian had, in the meantime, been appointed to teach Moral Theology as part of the three year theological course at the Diocesan School of Formation for Permanent Deacons, his Archbishop allowed him to accept the invitation.
The Socio-Political dynamic and its attendant ethical questions have always been at the center of Father Sebastian’s interest. This interest stems from his conviction that the full actualization of the human person faithful to God’s plan cannot take place outside the social context. The Church and Christians can truly only be a sign and seed of the Kingdom if, in dialog with all people of good-will, they can give meaning to and ennoble our life in society.
At the Alphonsian Academy, in addition to various seminars, Father Viotti teaches courses on the moral problems of Civil Law and on the ethical problems of democracy. He teaches in the same area of Moral Theology at the Pastoral Institute of the Pontifical Lateran University which specializes in the Social Doctrine of the Church:
"Now I am engaged in studying, teaching and keeping up with my pastoral commitments in my parish. Sometimes it is a bit tiring, but this continuous interaction between theory and praxis is very rewarding, and seems to me to be quite advantageous. Studying eliminates the risk that my parish pastoral ministry will become ineffective and directionless, a pragmatic and disconnected approach to the incarnation of the Gospel of salvation. My pastoral ministry, on the other hand, allows me to live among and with people, thus enabling me to have a more immediate relationship with the concrete human person in his or her situation with all its hopes and worries which is precisely the locus of the Church and that to which and for which She must proclaim and bring about the truth that is the Gospel of Christ".