Posted on 08/04/2010 5:37:50 AM PDT by marshmallow
From a young age, Juan Alejo has aspired to live a priest's life.
"Since I was a kid, I heard this call," said Alejo.
Now the 35-year-old, who is heeding that summons by attending St. Patrick's Seminary & University in Menlo Park, is among a growing number of men flocking to seminaries in recent years to become Roman Catholic priests.
That growth is prompting the school to plan for a major campus expansion that could cost up to $50 million.
The increase in seminarians at St. Patrick's reflects an uptick in their numbers nationwide after decades of enrollment declines. The number of men interested in joining the priesthood is rising despite highly publicized cases of sexual abuse by priests.
"It's a national thing we're experiencing," the Rev. James McKearney, St. Patrick's president, said of the upward trend in those pursuing priesthood.
"There's been a lot of anxiety in light of the fact that the church has been getting a lot of bad press," McKearney said, "but the vast majority of priests are good men. (St. Patrick's seminarians) want to be good priests as opposed to those who haven't lived their vows. They are not dissuaded by the bad press."
In the coming academic year, St. Patrick's is expected to have more than 100 seminarians following a steady rise since 2006 when it served 88 students.
The projected enrollment includes 34 new students, according to the school.
"We haven't seen that in many years," McKearney said. "It's an exciting time."
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
St. John's, Camarillo (Mahony's Pink Palace) is/was a major problem. Gomez gives me cause for hope in that regard.
No, this can’t be. After all this doesn’t fit the anti-Catholic/Liberal mold of the “dying Church”. Gee, the article must be in error.
Can’t agree with you more. In working at my last parish Youth Ministry, we were blessed to have 4 young men discern for the priesthood. One went to St John’s and only lasted a year but the other 3 went to more orthodox seminaries. One was just ordained a priest, one is a deacon and will be ordained next year and the third is a brother. Additionally we had one beautiful young lady become a Carmilite nun. Needless to say our ministry was very active and full of the Spirit! Here’s a link to one of the ministries they work with now (along with a picture of them):
http://www.familyvocations.org/AboutFVM.html
Your saga of possible vocations holds true just like other vocations.
If three out of four men made it — that’s great odds. Even if they all went to the same seminary, he may not have made it. You may not know all the facts, but then again, if you are the youth minister, you may.
Good insight. I am just a volunteer catechist but it is my understanding the young man that went to St John’s did not feel he was being spiritually fed. He did mention to our Youth Minister at the time that he was experiencing what Michael Rose wrote in his book “Goodbye Good Men”. This was back about 2002 though. God bless!
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