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Metro Atlanta's Roman Catholic churches are keeping their pulpits filled better than many regions of the country.Across the nation there is a shortage of priests, but the Archdiocese of Atlanta's 95 churches and missions have 262 priests and more than 50 seminarians in training. RELATED: • More Atlanta news "We have one of the strongest vocational programs in the country," said Father Luke Ballman, the director of vocations.About 600 Serrans, lay Catholics dedicated to supporting and educating those choosing church vocations, are in Atlanta this weekend for a national conference.Serra clubs across the country raise money for scholarships, organize prayer...

Carolina State Symbols: Tar Heels, Palmettos -- and Seminarians Further evidencing the rise of the Southern states as American Catholicism's boomtown, Bishop Robert Baker of Charleston will ordain six new priests tomorrow night -- the largest crop for South Carolina's lone diocese (Catholic pop. 176,000) since 1956. Due to the large number of candidates, the ordination Mass is being held in a convention center in the state capital of Columbia. In May, the historic local church (founded in 1820) welcomed 22 new permanent deacons; since 1990, its Catholic presence has more than doubled, now comprising 4% of the general...

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 1, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the Vatican translation of the answers Benedict XVI gave to questions posed by seminarians of the Roman Major Seminary, during the Popes visit there Feb. 17. Part 2 of the questions and answers will be published on Friday. * * * VISIT TO THE COMMUNITY OF THE ROMAN MAJOR SEMINARY ON OCCASION OF THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF TRUST ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI Saturday, 17 February 2007 Gregorpaolo Stano, Diocese of Oria (First-Year Philosophy): Your Holiness, ours is the first of two years dedicated to discernment, during which we...

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 2, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the Vatican translation of the answers Benedict XVI gave to questions posed by seminarians of the Roman Major Seminary, during the Pope's visit there Feb. 17. Part 1 of the questions and answers was published Thursday. * * * Koicio Dimov, Diocese of Nicopolis, Bulgaria (Second-Year Theology): Most Blessed Father, commenting on the Way of the Cross in 2005, you spoke of the dirt in the Church; and in the Homily for the ordination of the Roman priests last year, you warned us of the risk "of careerism, the attempt to get...

The fans were pious. The players bound for glory. And the victory? A miracle. Priests and seminarians from several soccer-loving countries took to a field near the looming dome of St. Peter's Basilica Saturday for the first match of the Clericus Cup, a tournament fielding 16 teams from Catholic institutes in Rome."You are playing in view of St. Peter's cupola, so behave well," admonished Cardinal Pio Laghi before giving the official kickoff at a small arena on a hill overlooking the Vatican.In Italy soccer is a hallowed game, taken almost as seriously as Catholicism, and the players were all business...

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 11 No 7 (August 1998), p. 12 U.S. Priests and seminarians survey: more vocations in orthodox dioceses A comparative analysis of different 'styles’ of US dioceses was recently undertaken by Human Life International (HLI). The survey sought to compare the numbers of priests and seminarians in dioceses broadly typed as "orthodox" and "progressive". For the purposes of its study HLI defined an "orthodox" diocese as one that had exhibited a "general predisposition of fidelity towards the Magisterium since Vatican II." The term "progressive" was applied to a diocese exhibiting "a general predisposition towards liberal activism and...

ALTOETTING, Germany, SEPT. 11, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI stressed that if Catholics pray with profound faith the Church will receive the vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life that it needs. The Pope expressed this conviction when celebrating Vespers this evening with religious and seminarians of Bavaria and members of the Society for Spiritual Vocations in the Basilica of St. Anne in the Marian shrine of Altoetting. "God's harvest is indeed great, and it needs laborers," said the Holy Father. "In the so-called Third World -- in Latin America, in Africa and in Asia -- people are waiting for heralds...

…… began to consider priesthood and religious life from the standpoint of a successful business career which provided everything I was supposed to have and which I found unfulfilling. …… have wanted to be a priest since I was five years old (I am now forty-seven!). …… have thought about the priesthood since my Confirmation retreat at 13. . . . have studied and traveled through Europe for a year. . . . have a sister who will graduate law school the day before I get ordained a priest (my only sibling). …… that I wanted to be a priest...

Identical twins James and Joseph Campbell's first names came from the same Catholic priest. Asked at age 5 what they wanted to be, they simultaneously answered: "priest." They used to play at the profession, using a Sears Roebuck Mass kit that Catholic families kept at home for emergencies. The Campbell boys served Communion wafers they'd fashioned from bread. Their parents never had to force them to go to daily Mass at 6:30 a.m. "It wasn't an obligation for us, but rather something we saw as cool," Joseph Campbell said. So it's no surprise that the 26-year-old Erie twins are being...

"Love Cannot Fail to Be a Short Cut to Full Communion" VATICAN CITY, MARCH 15, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a text of the address Benedict XVI gave Feb. 27 to a group of priests and seminarians from the Theological College of the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Greek Orthodox Church. * * * Consistory Hall Your Excellency, Most Reverend Archimandrites, Priests, Seminarians and all those taking part in the "study visit" to Rome, As I welcome you with joy and gratitude on the occasion of the initiative of this visit to Rome, I would like to recall an exhortation that St....

by Archbishop Charles Chaput Other Articles by Archbishop Charles Chaput Common Sense for an Uncommon Calling 12/9/05 The Vatican’s new instruction on the admission of candidates to seminary and the priesthood has fewer than 1,500 words. That works out to about an average Sunday homily. And like many of the best homilies, it seeks to apply common sense and the wisdom of the Church to problems of the day. But we live in a culture where common sense can be rare. Thus, nobody should be surprised at the pre-emptive criticism and anxiety already directed at a Church document that deals with...

......When a young man is ordained in Igboland, it is tradition that his village collects money from its residents and buys him a car – an enormous gift in a poor nation. Priests can afford luxuries, like satellite television, that other Nigerians only dream of. "When you are a priest, you don't lack," seminarian Tony Ezekwu said. "They have a high standard of living. People want that." The promise of status no doubt attracts some to the priesthood. And some see seminary more as a path to an education than a way to answer a spiritual calling. Their view is...

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Chinese authorities have arrested a priest and 10 seminarians from that nation's underground Roman Catholic Church, a Vatican-affiliated news agency said Friday. President Bush, who is due to visit China as part of an eight-day trip to Asia, called on China's leadership this week to give the public more religious freedom and other liberties. The Rev. Yang Jianwei and the seminarians were detained Nov. 12 in Xushui City in Hebei province, a traditional stronghold of Catholic sentiment in northern China, AsiaNews reported. Six of the seminarians were released later, but Yang and the four others remain...

RELATED NEWS: “God has given us the perfect Pope,” says Spanish archbishop Argentine bishop: “Benedict XVI’s challenges attract and captivate young people” Archbishop of Havana: WYD unlike any other youth event Pope and youth stop to adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament Pope recalls WYD, prays event may inspire more vocations Cologne, Aug. 24, 2005 (CNA) - Pope Benedict XVI recalled today the gathering of hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world in Cologne, Germany, for World Youth Day last week. “Young people from all cultures of the world gathered as pilgrims seeking Jesus Christ, whom...

"May Christ be everything for you," Pope tells seminarians Cologne, Aug. 19, 2005 (CNA) - In a special meeting today with more than 500 seminarians at World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, Pope Benedict XVI said the seminary years are a time of preparing for mission and a “springtime” in the life of a follower of Christ.Pope Benedict wished to celebrate the vespers of this Friday, talking to the seminarians, addressing the mystery of vocations in the church, and giving them a special message on their mission. Amid a colorful and joyful audience, and after listening to various testimonies, the...

Dear Seminarians,  I greet all of you with great affection and gratitude for your festive welcome and particularly for the fact that you have come to this gathering from so many countries the world over.  In a special way my heartfelt thanks go to the seminarian, the priest and the Bishop who have given us their own personal witness.  I am very pleased to have this opportunity to be with you.  I had asked that the programme of these days in Cologne should include a special meeting with young seminarians, so that the vocational dimension which is always a part...

ROME -- Future American parish priests studying in Rome are cheering the choice of a pontiff forged in the image of the only pope they've ever known. Yet, when the seven American cardinals who run dioceses were asked Wednesday how Pope Benedict XVI will help them recruit new candidates for the priesthood and keep them from closing parishes, there weren't many concrete answers.

Code: ZE05020104Date: 2005-02-01Make Sure Seminarians Can Live in Celibacy, Says PopeSuggests That Specialists Be Used to Verify ThisVATICAN CITY, FEB. 1, 2005 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II says the emotional maturity of candidates for the priesthood, and their ability to live in celibacy, must be verified from the moment they enter the seminary. The Pope made this proposal in the message he sent today to Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, on the occasion of the Vatican dicastery's plenary session in Rome. "Already from the moment of the admission of young men to the seminary, their ability...

556 Reasons For Hope CRISIS Magazine - e-Letter September 10, 2004 ********************************************** Dear Friend, You're going to like this. For a while now, it seemed like news about the priesthood was becoming increasingly dim. On the one hand was the problem of abusive priests; on the other, the problem of good priests being overworked and weighed down by the general condemnation of the media. And then, last August, another blow. A group of 163 priests in the diocese of Milwaukee signed a petition that they sent to Bishop Wilton Gregory, the president of the USCCB, urging him and the rest...

The following three testimonies were written by three of four seminarians who left the Bombay Major seminary in early 2002 to join the Society of St Pius X. The four seminarians had done respectively 8, 7, 6 and 5 years of study in this their diocesan seminary. They joined the Society’s Australian seminary in 2003, and have now begun their 2nd year. As one of them said after being told that they would have to start their studies all over if they joined the SSPX seminary, “we have been taught error for so many years, we don’t mind learning the...