Forming Catholic Priests for a Changing World

'Our goal should be to ensure that all the priests ordained from our seminaries will possess the flexibility and affective maturity to live and thrive as holy shepherds and spiritual guides.'

Fr. John Kartje at Public Discourse. Among his observations,

"Unfortunately, contemporary American culture does not generally encourage young adults to become self-reflective and aware of the impact that their emotions have on their decisions and relationships. Our society seeks instant gratification and rejects anything that is perceived as critical or challenging. The effects of this atmosphere present new challenges for today’s seminaries. So, too, does the high degree of broken family structure in our society. Many young men who are beginning to discern a priestly vocation are dealing (or not dealing) with the impact of parental divorce. Others have never had a healthy paternal role model in their life."

Fr. Kartje, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, has since 2015 served as Rector of Mundelein Seminary, where he also teaches sacred scripture.

Pope Frets about 'Hemorrhage' of Priests, Nuns from Church

Reported yesterday at the Associated Press.

The AP notes this isn't really news in "the developed world".

It has even been a problem in developing countries. For example, John L. Allen Jr.'s report in April 2013 at National Catholic Reporter on our Pope's 15 years as Archbishop of Buenos Aires included that,

"vocations to the priesthood have been falling in Buenos Aires on his watch, despite the fact they’re up in some other dioceses. Last year the archdiocese ordained just 12 new priests, as opposed to 40-50 per year when Bergoglio took over.

On the other hand, even in the developed world there have been some of what CARA's '1964' blog called Ordination All-Stars, notably the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska.

FSCC & Poor Clares silent discernment retreat in Sauk Rapids MN Oct 8th

Email from the sisters(thank you for the kind words!):

Matt, thanks for highlighting us on Badger Catholic! We are thrilled by your support. Retreat went well.

Now we are looking at a collaborative event with the Poor Clares in Sauk Rapids, MN.

https://franciscanizedworld.fscc-calledtobe.org/2016/09/silent-discernment-of-spirits-day-retreat-october-8-sauk-rapids-mn/

Know of our prayers for all that you do for the new evangelization!

Discernment of Spirits Retreat Flyer by Matt J Korger on Scribd

FSCC offers discernment retreat in Manitowoc Sept 16-18

Sister Anne Marie Lom leads this September 16-18, 2016 retreat that includes contemplating what was important to St. Francis, especially his relationship with God and others. Includes time for prayer and reflection, as well as joining us in a Beach Sweep for ‘Sister Water’ at Lake Michigan. Call or text Sister Julie Ann 920-323-9632.

http://1bewut1gndve7rsji3iknps7tb-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/FSCC-Retreat-Flyer_Sept2016_EyesFrancis_P2.pdf

FSCC

Cream City Catholic interviews Green Beret become seminarian

Miguel Flores-Perez is a seminarian for the Diocese of Austin. Having served for nearly nine years in the U.S. Army, he decided to join the seminary, with the goal of serving in the military chaplaincy. A good friend for years, he recently took some time to talk to Cream City Catholic.

Camp Franciscan: "Women of Strength, Women of God" in Manitowoc June 15-17

Women of Strength, Women of God

This is an experience of meeting many Franciscan Sisters, friendship with other campers, Community prayer, Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation, fine arts, homespun entertainment, and more. It is an opportunity to catch the Franciscan spirit!

Who: All young women 6th grade to college age are invited.

When: Begins at 1 p.m. on June 15.

Where: Holy Family Convent, Motherhouse of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity

Leadership Training: High School Sophomores to college age are invited to help us guide the other campers June 13, 1 p.m. – June 15, 1 p.m.

continue at Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity

Bp. Callahan to kids: Being a priest is the best job, Han Solo, and 10 cups of joe

The grilling of Bishop William Callahan went on for 90 minutes Thursday.

“How is God everywhere every second?” The response: “Because he is God.”

“What’s your favorite ‘Star Wars’ character?” The response: Hans Solo.  [I'm sure Bishop got it right, but writer may be too influenced by the German culture] Incidentally, Callahan has seen the original “Star Wars’ film 11 times.

“Have you ever met anyone famous?” The response: Yes. “I’ve met Pope Francis. I’ve met Pope Benedict. I’ve met Pope John Paul II.”

“How much coffee do you drink a day? The response: “I probably drink at least 10 cups of coffee a day.”

“Do you like bubbles?” The response: Of course. “I like bubbles. Bubbles are fun.”

Callahan of the La Crosse Diocese took each question in stride at McDonell Central Catholic High School in Chippewa Falls in three sessions from K-12 students from Boyd, Bloomer, Chippewa Falls and Tilden. He also celebrated a Mass at the school as a part of Catholic Schools Week.

continue at The Chippewa Herald

Great article.

Also: Lenten Message 

Have you encouraged your sons to consider the priesthood today?

In 2015 there was a 25% increase in ordinations to the priesthood as 595 men were ordained last year, up from 477 in 2014.

Great news!!

Indeed, the USCCB study reveals that nine percent of all ordinands reported being discouraged from considering a priestly vocation by a priest or other clergyman, and 12% report that their fathers, and nine percent of their mothers discouraged them from the priesthood.

 Do you really want to be remembered eternally as that guy?

But this positive news is often rejected by progressives. Today, the renewal is most pronounced in Madison, Wisconsin under the inspiring leadership of Bishop Robert Morlino. Last spring, the Diocese of Madison announced a vocations initiative intended to raise funds to support the tremendous surge in vocations in that Diocese. There are now 33 seminarians, up from just six in 2003 when Bishop Morlino arrived. The diocese needs $30 million to educate current and future seminarians—and they distributed pledge cards—asking parishioners to dig deep—and they more than met the challenge.

We know why progressives in fact do not want vocations.  They want women priestesses.   They want married clergy (of course it's allowable, but something that certainly would not increase vocations to the priesthood).  They want the laity to perform the functions of the priestly ministry.  And they want to fundamentally change what the Catholic Church teaches and practices; so we can cast off the superstitious mumbo jumbo and all be the best modernist humanitarians we can be.

The success in Madison and elsewhere shows that faithfulness and orthodoxy are compelling and attractive. Meanwhile, progressivism relies on a tired and sterile rebelliousness.

They know it and it's got them scared.  Bishops must remember this if they want to secure the future of their dioceses.  Not just in private, but public acts of orthodoxy and dare I say traditional Catholic devotion are attractive and beautiful.

read the whole report over at Catholic World Report

HTR Manitowoc: Ugandan Sister excited to take classes at Silver Lake College

So I go on a bit of a rant, but then find another fine piece in a secular paper on a Catholic topic. 

MANITOWOC – The first thing Sister Maddy Takyala of Uganda wanted to do when her plane landed in Milwaukee earlier this winter was to touch the snow.

With daytime temperatures in her native country reaching the 80s and 90s all year long, she had never seen — except in the movies — the fluffy white stuff that now surrounded her.

“It was too cold,” Takyala said, shaking her head as she recalled her first real-life contact.

She was on her way to Manitowoc to study at Silver Lake College, with plans to earn her education degree so she could return home to teach.

After an arduous journey that included delays, canceled flights and lost luggage, she finally arrived at what would become her second home for the next several years.

Sister Maddy, 25, is among eight international Sister students being sponsored this year by the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, founders of the college.

The youngest of 11 children, she was the first in her family to leave her country.

continue at HTRNews

HT Mark

StarTrib: A youth movement in the priesthood

What is Minnesotans’ image of a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis today? Many likely think of gray-haired men performing empty rituals for dwindling congregations in the shadow of the recent clergy sex-abuse scandal. They may imagine young men recoiling from the prospect of a life of “thou shalt nots,” leaving seminaries empty.

Folks with this view probably haven’t met the Rev. Andrew Brinkman, 29, assistant pastor of Nativity of Our Lord Church in St. Paul. As a boy, Brinkman dreamed of becoming a professional skateboarder and thought being a priest was “the scariest thing I’d ever heard of.” Today, he still rides his board weekly, doing “360 flips” while wearing his priest’s collar.

Or how about the Rev. Marcus Milless, 27, of All Saints Church in Lakeville? At 15, an acquaintance asked him to help with a child with a disability. “I was 4 foot 11, weighed 85 pounds and had a big mouth,” he says. His first thought was mercenary: “How much money could I make?” But over time, his work of feeding, bathing and caring for children with disabilities taught him the power of love and helped lead him to the priesthood.

Then there’s the Rev. Spencer Howe, 28, of St. John Neumann Church in Eagan. As an adolescent, he says, he was a rebel, searching for something on which to stake his life. On a trip to England at age 18, he was inspired by the English martyrs of the 16th century — priests who risked their lives to bring the sacraments to others in a hostile environment.

“I realized this was a lot more dramatic than I had thought — it was not ‘a church for grandmothers,’ but had a kind of fighting spirit,” he says. “Standing before a cathedral, looking up at that great edifice of faith, I recognized the call extended even to me.”

continue at Star Tribune

Madison Diocese Seminarian video

Was interesting to hear the seminarians tell their story if you keep watching the playlist.

It reminded me of the Pope Benedict quote:

Early in his pontificate, Pope Benedict was asked the question, “How many ways are there to get to heaven?” His response was something like, “There are as many ways to get to heaven as there are people on this earth.”

Photos from ICKSP Ordinations in St. Louis

Photos by Phil Roussin

+Cordileone in the middle, Bp Joseph Perry on the right, left? 

The whole set here on Flickr

'The State of Vocations in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee' on August 1

Our monthly First Friday Mass and Meeting is August 1, 2014.

This month’s speaker is Fr. Luke Strand, Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Fr. Luke will provide an update on The State of Vocations in the Archdiocese.

Fr. Luke was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 2009. He was born and raised in Dousman, Wisconsin, and attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh before entering St. Francis de Sales Seminary. For the past three years Fr. Luke has been serving as an in solidum team member at Holy Family Catholic Community in Fond du Lac. One of his brothers, Fr. Jacob Strand, was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese in May and is continuing his studies in Rome. Another brother, Vincent Strand, S.J., is a regent in the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus. (See Family enjoys triple dose of divinity, by Karen Mahoney, Milwaukee Catholic Herald, April 12 2012)

Mass will be celebrated at 7:30 A.M. in the Chapel of St. Edmund Campion, located on the 4th floor of Eckstein Hall (Marquette University Law School). Mass will be followed by our meeting and discussion from 8:00-9:00 A.M., which includes a continental breakfast (suggested donation $4.00). Parking is available in the Eckstein Hall underground parking structure. (Enter the lot, pull a ticket, and find an open parking space. Once parked, take the elevator to main floor, which opens to the foyer, and go to the welcome desk to get your parking ticket validated.)

via St. Thomas More Lawyer Society of Wisconsin

NYTimes profiles Michigan twin brothers who leave family farm for priesthood

FOWLER, Mich. — Aside for the mole grazing his right eyebrow, it is difficult to distinguish Gary Koenigsknecht from his identical twin, Todd, four minutes the elder.

Growing up, the twins, now 26, milked cows side by side on the family farm. They both graduated at the top of their high school class. And with their ordination on Saturday, they have begun careers as Roman Catholic priests, two of 477 men in the United States expected to be ordained this year.

They demonstrate that priestly vocations are not evenly distributed by family or geography: they are among six priests in their extended family, and among 22 from their hometown, Fowler, Mich., population 1,224. They officially tie up the leader board with the neighboring village of Westphalia, population 938, which has also produced 22 priests, making for a robust rivalry in both football and Roman collars.

In an era when the number of priests in the United States continues to dwindle — declining by 11 percent in the past decade and crippling the Catholic Church’s ability to meet the needs of a growing Catholic population — this rural patch of Clinton County offers a case study in the science and mystery of the call to priesthood.

continue at NY Times

Really well done.

HT MP

Milwaukee Archdiocese ordains six into the priesthood

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee will ordain six men to the priesthood in a special Mass at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 812 N. Jackson St., bringing to almost 50 the number of priests to graduate from its St. Francis de Sales Seminary over the last decade.

The Mass is expected to draw more than 1,000 well-wishers from around the nation and around the world. In keeping with national statistics on newly ordained priests, the seminarians include three who are foreign-born — one from Colombia and two from Kenya — and three who grew up in the Milwaukee area. They range in age from 26 to 39. Two have studied at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

St. Francis Rector the Rev. John Hemsing called the 2014 class "wonderful guys."

Founded in 1845, St. Francis de Sales had at its height 500 students in high school, college and seminary programs. Ordinations in the 1950s featured often 50 or more priests. Those numbers dropped dramatically over years but began picking up again in 2000. In 2009, the archdiocese ordained six seminarians, it's largest class in 17 years. Today, Hemsing said, the seminary has 29 students, but ordinations continue to fluctuate.

continue at MkeJS

Post by Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Madison seminarians enjoy playing basketball at Detroit major seminary

DETROIT, Mich. -- While Wisconsin fans look forward to the Badger basketball team competing in the Final Four in the NCAA’s March Madness, a basketball team from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit with five players from the Diocese of Madison has already won two tournament championships.

Playing on the Sacred Heart team from the Diocese of Madison are: Stephen Brunner, first year pre-theology; Jared Holzhuter, first year theology; Deacon Scott Jablonski, fourth year theology; and Drew Olson and Clint Olson, both in second year pre-theology.

The Sacred Heart basketball team competed from October through February. They played against a variety of teams, including Catholic high schools, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Sacred Heart security guards.

In competition against other seminary teams, they won a tournament held at Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Ill., in January and won another tournament held at the

Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, in February.

continue at MadCatHerald

New Madison seminarian story - John Schiedermayer

La Crosse Diocese "Seeking the Face of Jesus in Discernment" retreat

"Do not be afraid to be saints. Follow Jesus Christ who is the source of freedom and light. Be open to the Lord so that He may lighten all your ways." ~Blessed John Paul II
John Paul the Great Discernment Retreat 2013

Featuring

Father Al Wierzba
Vocation Director
Diocese of La Crosse

Sister M. Consolata, FSGM Vocation Director
Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George

Focus: Responding to the "universal call to holiness" promoted by Blessed John Paul II while helping discern the vocation God is calling each of us too. Spiritual Guidance for those beginning to discern and those “veterans” of discernment.

For Young Adults
(18-39)
*Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
*Silence
*Fellowship
*Fun!

Where: The Lions Camp in Rosholt, WI. 3834 County Road A, Rosholt, WI 54473
Directions: From the South—take I-39/US 51 North till Hwy 66 East. Go East about 15 miles. Take a left at Hwy A. About ¾ of a mile down you will see the Lions Camp on your left. When: February 15th - 17th, 2013
Retreat begins 7PM Friday and ends at Noon Sunday.

Click Here to Register Online
Click Here to Download Medical Release Form (Required) (Please complete and mail in Medical Release Form by Feb. 1st)
For More information Contact Phil Kosloski at: pakosloski@gmail.com

details at Josemaria Adult Faith Formation

Love for architecture leads man to enter Madison seminary

Imprisoned: Vocations Testimony-A Parent's Perspective

St. Monica's Parish in Whitefish Bay hosted a special Vocations Mass and talks on Sunday, November 18th. Fr. Luke Strand, the energetic director of vocations for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, said Mass, and then spoke briefly after Mass about his own vocation story and his work with the young people in the Archdiocese as vocations director. His talk was followed by three beautiful Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary who shared their own personal call stories. Finally, yours truly was asked to speak about a parent's perspective regarding my son, John, who is a college freshman at St. Joseph's College Seminary at Loyola University in Chicago which will be followed by four years at St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee. The text of my talk is below.


When I tell people that my son is a seminarian, I am often met with mixed reactions. The majority of people congratulate me and I can genuinely feel that they think it’s wonderful for a young man to give his life to God. But sometimes, I get questions that are tinged with disdain, such as “You’re son wants to be a priest and you’re ok with that?” By their reaction I get the feeling that they disapprove of my encouraging John to the priesthood.

continue at Imprisoned