Priestly vocations increasing in Melbourne

Fr Paul Stuart

Contents - Mar 2000 - Buy a copy now Editorial: The recovery of the sacred - Michael Gilchrist English language Mass translation reform: should ICEL be wound up? - Michael Gilchrist English language Mass translation reform: should ICEL be wound up? - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World How the Salesians are helping to rebuild East Timor - Br M Lynch How the Salesians are helping to rebuild East Timor - Br Michael Lynch Priestly vocations increasing in Melbourne - Fr Paul Stuart Priestly vocations increasing in Melbourne - Fr Paul Stuart New York Scripture seminar affirms reliability of New Testament - Eamonn Keane New York Scripture seminar affirms reliability of New Testament - Eamonn Keane US Bishops favour prominence of tabernacle - AD2000 Report Religious education: putting the emphasis back on God - Br John Moylan CFC Education: Religious education: putting the emphasis back on God - Br John Moylan CFC Fulton J. Sheen: prophetic inspiration for today’s new evangelisation - Archbishop Barry J. Hickey Biography: Fulton J. Sheen: prophetic inspiration for today's new evangelisation - Archbishop Barry J. Hickey Books: ‘Covenant of Love: Pastoral Reflections on Marriage’ by Cardinal John O’Connor - Thérèse Chandrasegaran (reviewer) Books: ‘Blessed Are Those Who Mourn: Comforting Catholics in Their Time of Grief’ by Gl - Katie Forster (reviewer) Books: 'Building Family Prayer and Traditions' by Steve Givens - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Books: ‘Springtime of Evangelization: Addresses by John Paul II’ - Tracey Rowland (reviewer) Books: ‘Pius XII and the Second World War’ by Pierre Blet SJ - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Reflection: Does Lent retain its spiritual meaning today? - Mary Kenny

For the fourth year in a row, the number of seminarians for the Archdiocese of Melbourne has increased. When Archbishop George Pell became Archbishop in August 1996, he inherited twelve seminarians for a diocese of one million Catholics. With the entry of eight new students into the seminary for 2000 (the largest number to enter for Melbourne since 1987), there are now twenty-eight seminarians for Melbourne. Already there are six formal applications for 2001.

In 1999, the Vocations Office received 29 approaches from men inquiring about the priesthood as a possible vocation, and 19 formally applied to enter the seminary. As mentioned, eight have been accepted for 2000. The age range of the new seminarians is from 22 to 38 and most have completed a tertiary degree.

Personal example

Nearly all of the applicants were once altar servers and cited their experience of altar serving as a time when they first thought of the priesthood as a vocation. Most applicants also identified a particular priest as being influential in their attraction to Holy Orders.

Thus formal involvement in the Church and the personal example of priests remain important factors of inspiration for vocational discernment. It can also be said that God's grace, the prayers of thousands in the Archdiocese, and the efforts of all those who have worked hard in vocational ministry in the past have been fruitful.

Four women made inquiries about religious life through the Vocations Office, but none decided to enter any religious order present in Melbourne. One young woman from Melbourne is entering the Carmelite in Launceston and our prayers go with her. Those religious orders in Melbourne that might be described as having retained something of the classical religious life, such as the Carmelites in Kew, are faring better, in terms of attracting new novices, than those orders which have "secularised."

Two people made inquiries with the Vocations Office about serving as lay missionaries and a variety of options are available to anyone who is interested in such a vocation.

In Victoria, Corpus Christi College seminary, recently reformed by the bishops of Victoria and Tasmania, is itself an attraction to those contemplating a vocation to study for the priesthood (evident from the fact that a small number of students and applicants are from interstate or overseas). The orthodoxy of the new seminary is evolving relatively well after a tumultuous period in its eighty-year history.

Eighteen men attended a vocations weekend at Corpus Christi in October 1999. Most commented favourably on aspects of the seminary - the students, the staff, the (new) approach to sacred liturgy, and the pastoral program (a long-standing strength of Corpus Christi). Certainly, for most of the students at Corpus Christi, now moving from Clayton to Carlton, there is an appreciation of the reforms introduced by the bishops under the leadership of Archbishop Pell.

A happy problem with the new seminary in Carlton is that it has probably been built too small for the increasing number of applicants entering now, and which look like continuing into the future. Those who have prayed hard for vocations in Melbourne are having their prayers answered. May the Lord continue to bless us.

Father Paul Stuart is Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 13 No 2 (March 2000), p. 7