On Sunday, Aug. 4, at the 10:30 a.m. Mass at the Church of Saint James in Ventnor, I officially accepted four young men as seminarians for our Diocese. This is an annual event that intentionally takes place at Sunday Mass so that the parishioners are made aware of the critical need of vocations to the ordained priesthood of our Diocese. These new candidates and their families joined in prayer with the parish community, our other seminarians, their families and their pastors. After Mass, we enjoyed brunch and one another’s company.
This event provides an opportunity for parishioners to meet and greet a diocesan seminarian. It reminds the seminarian that he is preparing for parish ministry as a diocesan priest. Saint James Church was selected as the venue this year because its parishioner Nickolas Naticchione, entering third theology at Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., received the ministry of acolyte, which is one of the four “steps” on the way to the priesthood – Candidacy, Lector, Acolyte and Deacon – then Priest.
At Mass, I preached on the hunger of the heart, which we experience in different ways. It is a deep hunger, a spiritual hunger. In college, I deeply experienced that hunger, and it encouraged me to consider a call to the diocesan priesthood, which I had been ignoring and trying to get rid of. Assisted with the wise counsel of a priest, I eventually made the decision to apply to the seminary, and 59 years ago this September, I began the journey to the priesthood to satisfy that hunger. I can attest that in the past 53 years as a priest, my hunger has been well-fed by prayer, ministry, study and the inspiring example of so many faithful women and men, whom I have been privileged to serve as priest and bishop.
We live in a society inundated with social media, which assures that the hunger of the heart can be satisfied by sex, music, pornography, drugs, marijuana (now readily available), streaming TV, possessions, entertainment, things. Try this, and you will be satisfied. Do this, and you will be fulfilled. All of which makes it more difficult for a young man to consider the ordained priesthood of Jesus Christ. It takes guts and a level of maturity to swim against the tide and consider the priesthood.
My advice to our seminarians is to follow their hungry hearts. To allow the discipline of seminary life, its rules; the experience of living in an all-male community; the rigor of the academics; to be open to the clerical and lay formators and to grow in Christ and in understanding the Catholic tradition. To allow all of these to feed and satisfy the hunger of the heart for God that they are experiencing.
Of the four new seminarians we accepted, one will enter Saint Andrew Seminary at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., and pursue his bachelor’s degree. The other three will enter the Propaedeutic Year at Saint Joseph’s Seminary in New York. This is a year of personal formation and preparation in human issues and in the Catholic faith and tradition. The Propaedeutic Year concludes with entrance into theology.
We have two seminarians who will enter the Major Seminary and begin four years of theological studies and pastoral and spiritual formation. One will enter his third year of theology with ordination to the transitional diaconate next May. There are two transitional deacons who will be ordained priests next May. They will complete their fourth year of theology and submit their theses for their master’s degrees. The remaining seminarians are in college at Seton Hall working on their bachelor’s degrees. They live in the college seminary, Saint Andrew’s Hall, where they receive excellent formation in the spiritual life and introduction to the ministry and life of a parish priest.
This week, these seminarians are on retreat, which provides them an opportunity to get to know each other and spend concentrated time with the Lord. Please, pray for our seminarians and encourage other young men to consider a vocation to the diocesan priesthood. It is mighty difficult to hear the call of the Lord in the noise of our world with its many attractions, some of which are distractions. Society does not value organized religion nor church. Sometimes your word of encouragement to a young man can get him thinking about the priesthood and doing something to respond to God’s call. Your word can work wonders. It does not fall on deaf ears. It can be a word of reassurance heard in a frightened heart.
Our seminarians will gather with me at the Wedding of the Sea in Wildwood on Aug. 14 and in Atlantic City on Aug 15. Come and meet them. You’ll be as impressed by and as proud of them as I am.
The Diocese of Camden’s Newest Seminarians
Domenic DeStefano
The College Seminary of the Immaculate Conception at Saint Andrew’s Hall, Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J.
Luke Hasson
Propaedeutic Stage
Saint Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers, N.Y.
Sean McBride
Propaedeutic Stage
Saint Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers, N.Y.
Kyle Palmieri
Propaedeutic Stage
Saint Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers, N.Y.
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