Kenrick-Glennon seminary expanding

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Proof that when diocese has a strong, orthodox bishop at the helm vocations increase.

God bless Archbishop Burke!

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Not to be a party pooper, but before celebrating I’d like to know if enrollment is increasing because other “competing” seminaries are closing.

Are all of the new men from the Archdiocese of Saint Louis?

KG trains men for other dioceses, so the closure of other seminaries in other dioceses would certainly raise KG’s enrollment.
 
Yes Kenrick glennon educates a lot of men for other diocese, and not because of closing seminaries, but becuase the Bishops choose to send their guys there…I think it speaks highly of the seminary.

last year’s enrollment was 71…this year is 109 I believe.

22 of them are St. Louis.

St. Louis is ordaining 8 this coming May,

6, the next year

8 the next, and

12 the next.

We are doing quite well. and I"m going to get slammed for this here, but many many of those 22 that entered this past year are from Lifeteen programs.
 
Yes Kenrick glennon educates a lot of men for other diocese, and not because of closing seminaries, but becuase the Bishops choose to send their guys there…I think it speaks highly of the seminary.
This reflects positively on the orthodoxy of KG and the bishops who choose to send their men there.

But still, it does not necessarily mean that vocations overall are up. It means that KG is simply taking seminarians away from “competing” and perhaps less orthodox seminaries.

The blog merely says “The seminary’s enrollment increased this year by 50%…” Well where did this increase come from? The fact that KG’s enrollment is up is not very enlightening. It could be up for many reasons. A more insightful metric would be: how many seminarians did St. Louis have before Archbp. Burke compared to now?
 
This reflects positively on the orthodoxy of KG and the bishops who choose to send their men there.

But still, it does not necessarily mean that vocations overall are up. It means that KG is simply taking seminarians away from “competing” and perhaps less orthodox seminaries.

The blog merely says “The seminary’s enrollment increased this year by 50%…” Well where did this increase come from? The fact that KG’s enrollment is up is not very enlightening. It could be up for many reasons. A more insightful metric would be: how many seminarians did St. Louis have before Archbp. Burke compared to now?
You got it IMO.

CWR just reported vocations are down 49% in the US since JP2. IMO this mini-vocation boom is smoke and mirrors IMO. Unfortunately used by many small orders to drum up donations. I find that shameful.

I have trouble when religous are collapsing and disappearing in the US but a supposedly orthodox order has gone from 12 to 18 members and they want me to donate to build a multi-milliuon dollar monastery.There is a word for this but I will be polite and not say it.

Even CWR,a very conservative publication, reported that foreign seminarians are making the difference and some diocese that had the biggest drops simply stopped accepting foreign seminarians.

The picture is bleak despite supposedly orthodox Popes.
 
I am a former Kenrick seminarian.

When I first visited the “Old Kenrick” building, I thought to myself: "Why on earth did they not keep the seminary at Old Kenrick, and transform the “New(er) Kenrick” into offices?

Do you think perhaps that the powers-that-be at the time wanted a nicer building, and thought that the “lowly seminarians” could have the older, smaller, dirtier building? Or could it be that since the “wave of the future” was thought to be smaller ordination classes and larger lay involvement that there was no sense that perhaps the number of seminarians would grow substantially at some time in the future?

A few of my former classmates and seminary-mates from St. Louis told me when I raised the issue last year that Archbishop Burke wondered the same thing when he arrived - about the Old Kenrick becoming offices instead of the New(er) Kenrick. But that is hearsay, so don’t quote me.
 
St. Louis is ordaining 8 this coming May,

6, the next year

8 the next, and

12 the next.

We are doing quite well. and I"m going to get slammed for this here, but many many of those 22 that entered this past year are from Lifeteen programs.
Not just “quantity”, but “quality”. I know a lot of those guys being ordained shortly - (soon to be) Fr. Houser, (s.t.b.) Fr. Kunz, (s.t.b) Fr. Nemeth, etc. etc. Wow! The Archdiocese is going to have some great young priests!
 
We are doing quite well. and I"m going to get slammed for this here, but many many of those 22 that entered this past year are from Lifeteen programs.
Not a slam, just a few questions.

What exactly did LifeTeen do that made “many many of those
22” decide to enter KG?

How many men are we talking about?

Would they have entered anyways with or without LifeTeen?

What about the other guys of the 22? (They entered without LifeTeen.)

And I can’t help but wonder how many young men, some of whom have prospective vocations, find LifeTeen repulsive and end up turning away from the Church.
 
I am a former Kenrick seminarian.

When I first visited the “Old Kenrick” building, I thought to myself: "Why on earth did they not keep the seminary at Old Kenrick, and transform the “New(er) Kenrick” into offices?

Do you think perhaps that the powers-that-be at the time wanted a nicer building, and thought that the “lowly seminarians” could have the older, smaller, dirtier building? Or could it be that since the “wave of the future” was thought to be smaller ordination classes and larger lay involvement that there was no sense that perhaps the number of seminarians would grow substantially at some time in the future?

A few of my former classmates and seminary-mates from St. Louis told me when I raised the issue last year that Archbishop Burke wondered the same thing when he arrived - about the Old Kenrick becoming offices instead of the New(er) Kenrick. But that is hearsay, so don’t quote me.
One might ask the same thing about the boondoggle which was the recent Quigley high school seminary closing in Chicago with present conversion of this inspiring facility into a chancery office. (When the obvious solution for new office space would have been to build new on other Archdiocesan property nearby.) In 20 years, I am convinced, people are going to look back with shock and sorrow asking, “My, God, what the hell have we done?”
 
Not a slam, just a few questions.

What exactly did LifeTeen do that made “many many of those
22” decide to enter KG?

And I can’t help but wonder how many young men, some of whom have prospective vocations, find LifeTeen repulsive and end up turning away from the Church.
In my experience at Kenrick, the “Life Teen” vocations don’t last - they drop out and a year later (or less) they’re married.

The more traditional guys are the ones who seem to go all the way through.

This is a general rule of thumb - in my Kenrick experience, anyway.
 
In my experience at Kenrick, the “Life Teen” vocations don’t last - they drop out and a year later (or less) they’re married.

The more traditional guys are the ones who seem to go all the way through.

This is a general rule of thumb - in my Kenrick experience, anyway.
I would think that would be a good thing…so many open to it!

and that isn’t entirely true…

3 of the 4 priests ordained last year were from Lifeteen programs…and very orthodox priests they are!
 
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