Tower Topics ~ Winter 2004

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Seminary enjoys highest enrollment in 35 years

The highest enrollment in 35 years is good news for Conception Seminary College, but pardon Father Benedict Neenan, president-rector, if his celebration is a bit muted.

"Of course we are glad to have so many seminarians," he says of the 102 students from 23 dioceses and four religious communities who
are enrolled for the Fall Semester. "But people should not lessen their efforts to promote vocations to the priesthood. Unfortunately, the number of seminarians nationwide is far too small."

Conception has enjoyed a dramatic 82 percent increase since 1996, when enrollment dipped to 56 seminarians. But that good fortune is an exception, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, which reports an 11 percent drop in seminarians over the past two years.

The sexual abuse scandal in the Church was probably a factor, but Father Benedict pointed out that recent closures of seminary colleges in Los Angeles and Boston have also had an impact.

"The guys in those large urban centers who might be inclined to test a vocation are probably less likely to do so because they would have to go so far away to school," he says.

Another, more hopeful, trend of the past decade at Conception has been an increase in the percentage of seminarians from the traditional college-age group between 18 and 22.

"It was fairly common 10 years ago to see a lot of second-career seminarians," Father Benedict notes, "but today our enrollment consists almost overwhelmingly of traditional college-age students."

Approximately 80 percent of CSC students are of traditional college age.

If enrollment continues to climb, soon the front steps of the Basilica won't be big enough for this traditional photograph of the entire student body.

While some dioceses still focus their recruiting efforts on older, second-career seminarians, Father Benedict is a strong proponent of nurturing vocations among the younger set.

"College age is the optimal time for formation," he says. "At that time, their enthusiasm is high, their eagerness to learn is high, and they haven't accumulated a lot of emotional baggage. We don't have to play catch-up with formation."

This year's seminarians are from as far away as Boise, Idaho, Las Cruces, N.M., San Angelo, Tex., and Salt Lake City, Utah. With 13 seminarians, the Diocese of Wichita is the most represented, followed by Oklahoma City with eight, and Omaha and Kansas City-St. Joseph each with seven.

Other dioceses sponsoring seminarians are: Cheyenne, Des Moines, Dodge City, Grand Island, Green Bay, Jefferson City, Joliet, Kansas City in Kansas, Knoxville, Louisville, Pueblo, Salina, Sioux City, Springfield (Illinois), and Tulsa.

There are also four students from three Benedictine communities and seven seminarians from the Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix, a Vietnamese religious order with its headquarters in Carthage, Mo.

For more information on Conception Seminary College, please contact Vince Casper, director of Admissions and Recruitment, at (660) 944-2886, send an e-mail to vocations@conception.edu, or visit the CSC Web site at www.conception.edu.

We welcome your comments:
communications@conception.edu
www.conceptionabbey.org

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