It does seem the American Midwest is a place of good news on the Catholic vocation front. One Vocation front is the Archdiocese of Kansas city and the Diocese across the border in Missouri with a news story that is getting a lot of play this morning because the Deacon Bench has linked it. See
“More young men are coming to the diocese to enter seminary than in two generations”
Also this past week we got some encouraging news out of the Diocese of Springfield Illinois via this TV news report ( there is a vid too at the link) .
More priests. That was and continues to be a mission for Bishop Thomas Paprocki, the head of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield. So far, that mission is trending in the right direction. In 2010, there were 11 men who entered seminary school to become a priest. In 2011, that jumped to 20. This year, the number is 26. It's the biggest class of seminarians over the past 25 years in the diocese. The average age of the 26 men is 27 years old.
"I think the reality is people are starting to understand how much we need the priesthood in the Catholic Church," Fr. Chris House, the vocations director said. "Without the priests we don't have the sacramental life. People have taken stock in that. I think people have also seen in society as we begin to polarize more and more there seems to be these extremes that you can only go so far before people are called back to what we believe as right, true, and holy and people are responding to that."
With many priests in the Diocese of Springfield nearing retirement age, the increase in seminarians is coming at the right time as well. Some of the 2012 seminarians in the diocese of Springfield include a lawyer, accountant, chemical engineer, and high schoolers. The average age of newly ordained priests in the country is about 35 years old
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