Archbishop Charles Scicluna has appointed Fr Albert Buhagiar as the new rector of the Archbishop's Seminary in Tal-Virtu', Rabat. 

The Seminary currently has 23 seminarians who are preparing themselves for the priesthood. 

Fr Albert Buhagiar will lead the Tal-Virtu' seminary.

Fr Albert was previously Mosta parish priest, and prior to that was parish priest of Siġġiewi. He will replace Fr Jimmy Bonnici as Seminary rector, with Fr Jimmy moving on to a new director's role at the Institute for Pastoral Formation (see below). 

Fr Albert's first pastoral work was as vice parish priest of Gżira. Two years later he was appointed vice parish priest of Żejtun parish and in 1996 he was appointed personal secretary to Archbishop Ġużeppi Mercieca. During this time, he also offered his pastoral services to the parishes of Marsascala and Luqa. 

He was born in Tarxien in 1964 and received his education at Paola Primary School, the Carmelite College in St Venera and De La Salle College in Cottonera. He continued his tertiary education in Philosophy and Theology at the University of Malta.

Institute of Pastoral Formation gets a new head

319 people successfully completed courses at the Institute of Pastoral Formation this week, with graduates completing courses graded level 4, 5 and 6 on the Malta Qualifications Framework. 

Fr Jimmy Bonnici will take up a new role as director at the Institute for Pastoral Formation.

A graduation ceremony was held on Tuesday 8 November at St Dominic's Church in Rabat.

During the graduation ceremony, Archbishop Scicluna announced that Fr Jimmy Bonnici would be the Institute's new director. 

Fr Jimmy was born in May 1972 and was ordained into the priesthood in June 1998. He first worked in the Mġarr parish and subsequently obtained his doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University of Rome in 2004. 

Upon his return to Malta, he was made director of the Propædeutic Phase in the Tal-Virtu' seminary. In January 2007 he was nominated Rector of the Major Seminary by Archbishop Paul Cremona, a role he performed for the past nine years.