Tower Topics ~ Spring 2002

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Auction crowd sold on seminarians

The following article by Kevin Kelly is reprinted courtesy of the Catholic Key, newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The crowd of 1,000 that spent $100 a plate to dine on salmon and filet mignon Jan. 25 knew they were supporting a good college and the young men who attend it.

But some eyewitness testimony helped.

Bruce Ansems, Conception Seminary College Class of 2001, told the crowd that jammed the Count Basie Ballroom at the Downtown Marriott Hotel for the ninth annual Support Our Seminarians dinner and auction, that he will always treasure his years at Conception.

Father Benedict Neenen, (front, left to right) Archbishop James Keleher
and Abbot Gregory Polan pose with seminarians from the Archdiocese
of Kansas City in Kansas and The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph
(left to right), David Stecher, Jake Clayton, Mick Combs, Anthony
Ouellette, Chris Rossman, Jeffrey Goettemoeller, Joshua Allee and
Steven Rogers. Back row, left to right, Father Joseph Cisetti, associate
vocation director for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Father
Michael Mullen, director of seminarians for the Archdiocese of Kansas
City in Kansas, and Father Brian Schieber, vocation director for the
Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. Not pictured, Bishop Raymond
Boland and Father Robert Stewart, vocation director, both of the Diocese
of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

“Conception lives its faith in God,” he said. “It is evident in what they pray and what they do.”

Ansems, a member of St. Patrick Parish in Kansas City, Kan., is in his first year of post-graduate theology studies at Mundelein Seminary near Chicago. He is studying for the priesthood of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

He credited his alma mater for preparing him well.

“Conception teaches us to strive to be intelligent so that we may teach the word of God and know what it means,” he said.

Ansems also said Conception taught him to deepen his prayer, and to remain true to God’s call.

“What more can we ask of a school?” he said. “It produces men of prayer, intelligence and integrity.”

Hearing Ansems and mingling with the enthusiastic crowd who annually pack a ballroom in any kind of mid-winter weather made the work of organizing this year’s event worthwhile, said Jerry Haake.

Haake co-chaired the event with his wife, Maureen, and with Mike and Linda Neenan. Both couples are members of St. Thomas More Parish in Kansas City, Mo.

“It’s like going through a pregnancy and having the joy of delivery,” Haake said. “It’s nine or 10 months of dedicated work with a lot of people to help.”

When Father Benedict Neenan, president-rector of the college, asked the Haakes to chair this year’s banquet, Jerry Haake accepted on one condition – the priest had to ask his brother, Mike, to co-chair.

“Call it sibling rivalry,” joked Mike Neenan.

Neenan said the enthusiasm for vocations in both the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas makes the event a sure-fire winner.

“There really is a tremendous amount of support among the people for seminarians,” he said. “We are just somebody who opens the door to all the people in both dioceses who support seminarians.”

Linda Neenan said the months of planning “is definitely worth it.”

“There is a lot of gratification that comes from knowing you are helping someone else do what they have to do in life,” she said. “The people come because this is in their hearts.”

Jerry Haake said the event would have been impossible without the hard work of a host of committee chairs who work on the details from registration to securing donated items for the silent and live auctions.

“The committee heads are wonderful people,” he said. “They took their duties and ran with them.”

The auction items ranged from religious icons to sports icons, including an autographed jersey from retired Baltimore Orioles star Cal Ripken, Jr. and an autographed bat, baseball and trading card set from Royals Hall of Famer George Brett.

With money still coming in as of Jan. 28, the event grossed well over $280,000, according to Dan Madden, director of communications for Conception Seminary College. Madden said the event will easily clear more than $200,000 and could break the record $218,000 set two years ago.

Both Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Raymond J. Boland and Kansas City, Kan., Archbishop James P. Keleher thanked the crowd for the support they have given to the event since it began in 1994, five months after both bishops were installed in their dioceses.

Father Benedict said the funds raised are divided in three equal parts. Two-thirds go to support seminarians from each diocese no matter where they are studying. One-third goes to support Conception Seminary College, benefiting all seminarians studying there.

“What we are about is the call to priesthood,” Father Benedict told the crowd. “All of you are here because you believe in the priesthood.”

Father Benedict urged the crowd to continue to support vocations to the priesthood and to religious life in three ways.

“God – not us – calls young men to the priesthood, so we need to pray,” he said. “I am convinced that God is calling lots of young men. We don’t have a shortage of vocations, but a shortage of response, so the second thing you can do is to suggest to young men to consider the priesthood.”

The third way to encourage vocations, he said, is to support the young men who are studying for the priesthood. “They need your financial support, they need your personal support and they need your prayerful support,” Father Benedict said.

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