Catholic Review Online: From Rome and about seminarians

Each week, H.E. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien posts an article in the Catholic Review Online in his "Thoughts on Our Church" column. Today he is visiting the Pontifical North American College in Rome where he is the Chair of the Board of Governors and his thoughts are on seminarians:

Another impressive and, indeed, inspiring hallmark of today’s seminarians, in Rome and in our own distinguished St. Mary’s Seminary in Roland Park and Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, is a return to a Eucharistic-centered spirituality. At NAC, all are “on deck” at 6:15 a.m. for morning prayer and 6:30 a.m. community Mass before walking a typical 25 minutes to classes across town. Come evening, one would have to be impressed by the numbers in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament during the voluntary holy hour of exposition.

Many seminarians volunteer the fact that they discovered their vocation through devotion to the Blessed Sacrament in parishes where Eucharistic adoration was regularly scheduled with special prayers for vocations.

Nationally, I am told that there are dioceses such as Wichita, where an abundance of priestly vocations can be traced to diocesan-wide Eucharistic adoration. Nor do I think it a coincidence that the three parishes in our Archdiocese with the most success at present in “growing” seminarians for Baltimore all offer parishioners opportunities for Eucharistic adoration outside of Mass:

St. Louis, Clarksville – 4 seminarians
St. John, Westminster – 3 seminarians, 2 applying
St. Peter the Apostle, Libertytown – 2 seminarians, 1 applying

Read this great article here!