Posted on 05/23/2005 11:30:03 AM PDT by marshmallow
Chicago, May. 23, 2005 (CNA) - During a three-hour ceremony, at Chicago’s Cathedral on Saturday, Cardinal Francis George ordained 16 men to the priesthood—the largest ordination class of any diocese in the U.S.
Ranging in age from 26 to 46, the group, some of whom hail from as far away as Poland, Ecuador, Peru and Mexico, are also overall, one of the youngest ordination classes in the country.
The Archdiocese reached its low point in 1990, ordaining only 6 men, but those numbers have been steadily growing since.
Reverend Thomas Baima, who is provost of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, where the priests were trained, told Chicago’s Catholic New World that the faithful need good priests and that he's proud to announce that his group is ready for the challenge.
27 year-old Brenden Lupton one of the new priests, and a graduate of Catholic University of America told the New World that, “As a priest, in general, I hope to point towards the beauty of Christ.”
“I hope to work a lot with the youth, visit the sick, and teach in RCIA. I also hope to discuss and learn more about our rich Catholic faith,” he added.
What percentage are Christian?
They are probably shooting for 100%. Time will tell.
What percent are heretic Protestants? Hopefully 0%.
Congratulations on Savannah! Do you have a new bishop? What accounts for the rise in vocations?
My daughter lives in Charleston, where things were very bad but are now finally (new bishop) picking up. I don't know what their ordination numbers are, though.
Perhaps chasing sodomites out of the Catholic Church encouraged priestly candidates who only want to put a wafer in someone's mouth.
It will be interesting to see the size of the classes under BXVI.
I think this is a refelction of the impact that Pope John Paul II had on the youth. His example along with that of Mother Theresa have given a good witness to a religious vocation. In fact, I think it has stimulated a return to a true belief in Christianity and the person of Jesus Christ as Redeemer and second part of the Trinity.
Christian denominations which have abandoned orthodoxy are seeing their numbers dwindle while those which stay true to traditional beliefs are capturing the interest of more young people. Sometimes it's hard to see the changes taking place because the pop culture is so strong and pervasive, but I am sensing a change in the winds! During the funeral of JPII a priest from the St. Paul Archdiocese was on EWTN, and he mentioned that they will be ordaining a large group of priests this year too. I think it was about 15 or 16.
Early 40s, very orthodox and totally Catholic, he's just been made Vice-(no jokes please)-Rector of Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland. Real sad to see him go, but it's great news for the seminary.
**Cardinal Francis George ordained 16 men to the priesthood—the largest ordination class of any diocese in the U.S. **
What are they doing right in Chicago that other dioceses can duplicate?
All Catholics believe in Jesus Christ. I don't quite understand your question unless you were being sarcastic. Were you?
I suppose that would depend on your definition of Catholic, but that wasn't the question. The question dealt with priests. Since I am certain that not all protestant pastors are Christian, I would also doubt that all Catholic priests were Christian - and recent history would certainly support that conclusion. I would suspect that recent efforts to clean up the seminaries and do a better job of screening candidates has had a positive impact on vocations. Being defensive about the issue is certainly not going to contribute to the solution.
My take on the new seminary population (and the younger generation in general) is that they are very straight-laced, law-abiding (commandment-abiding), orthodox in their choice of Mass, have high character traits and strict morals and display values of faith, hope and charity generously.
Whew! That was a lot in one sentence!
what percentage are CHristian?
Since Cardinal George took over and started pruning back the modernists, I suspect most of them have a personal commitment to Christ...
These things are not mentioned in polite society, but in the last ten years, as modernist bishops die or retire, they have slowly been replaced with true apostles with firm commitments to be pastors of Christ.
It is also my understanding that the news on that front is good, but it is probably unrealistic to think that they can screen out all of the problems. At least they are making a good effort these days. Now if the mainline protestants would make similar efforts....
I hope that this is true!
Also note that there will be yet another ordination of a priest for the society of St John Cantius, for now only located within the Archdiocese of Chicago, as well.
Having a good seminary helps a lot! We have an orthodox priest here in Florida who went through our very unorthodox and highly gay seminary for family reasons - his mother who lives in Florida was ill - and the vocations director (a nun, I believe) held up his ordination for several years because he was "too orthodox."
A great sentence to me! Fits the description of my parish priest to a T....
we had a new priest celebrate his first mass at our parish yesterday, and one of the seminarians who came along was from St. Mary's seminary. The new priest was in his late forties, but the seminarians (six of them) looked early thirties at the oldest, and fine manly young men too. They are in different seminaries but all aimed for our diocese.
Mrs VS
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