Posted on 04/26/2008 6:10:24 AM PDT by NYer
.- St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, New York, has received dozens of applications following Pope Benedict’s visit, the New York Daily News reports.
"It's been like a tsunami, a good tsunami of interest," said Father Luke Sweeney, the Archdiocese of New York's vocations director. “I've been meeting people all week and have a lot of e-mails I haven't had the chance yet to respond to. It has been incredible.”
For the first time in 108 years, the seminary had been preparing for a year with no students. Only 23 seminarians are expected to be ordained for New York City over the next four years. A study carried out by Catholic World Report claims the archdiocese’s ratio of priests to congregation members is among the worst in the country.
Currently there are only 648 diocesan priests for the Archdiocese of New York, which has 2.5 million Catholics.
“We are facing a severe shortage,” Father Sweeney said. The vocations director recently launched a recruitment campaign that uses the slogans “The World Needs Heroes” and “You Have To Be a Real Man If You Want to Become a Priest.”
“We were hoping the Pope would convince many who were considering the priesthood to make the next step. It looks like he did,” he said.
The Pope spoke to a rally of 25,000 young people on the seminary’s grounds last Saturday, April 19.
Father Sweeney described how the Pope’s words affected one new applicant.
“One said he came, saw the crowd, heard what the Pope said and then called us," the priest said. "He said his questions and concerns were answered when he heard him speak.”
Awesome.
That's stunning. I had no idea they were doing that badly. Cdl O'Connor did a lot to improve that seminary (like rooting out the lavender mob) and I just assumed this had carried over under Cdl Egan.
Miracle. That is the only word that can be used.
Please, everybody pray for these young men. Sending in the application is one thing but getting to ordination day is another. They need all of our support.
I have to laugh, though. Follwing Ratzinger's election to pontiff, a local radio host, disappointed with the results, labeled Pope Benedict XVI, an "interim" pope. Nothing could have been father from the truth.
Wow, we have 8 seminarians for ~150,000 Catholics.
Excellent reminder. Satan loves nothing more than to distract those who have shifted their focus to God.
Or a good sales pitch...
The hope which never disappoints is Jesus Christ.
Well, if you disagree with that 'sales pitch', where does that leave you?
Cynicism destroys the beauty of life. Beware my friend.
Outside the Catholic Church--founded by Christ--looking in.
OK, that's obscure -- explanation:
Australian slang (similar to Cockney rhyming slang) - "On the outside looking in, like the **** cockie on the **** biscuit tin."
Nice and precise.
The Pope’s visit has been truly inspirational, I could tell from my friend who was in the choir that sang for him. My friend, who has been incredibly cynical of late and really running down the catholic church, came away from the stadium visit a changed man. It was quite a stark difference in his demeanor since the visit.
Amazing.
That’s nice NYer.We will pray for them.
This is awesome.
In northern Maine some priests are covering multiple parishes with up to 10,000 parishoners. We need more priests.
Iscool. Do you ever have anything pertinent to add to the discussion or do you just thrown moonbat shit at any Catholic thread?
God bless these men and give them the heart to continue their vocations, so that they may be faithful workers in Your vineyard.
How many of them actually go to Mass?
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