May 16-17: ‘Fishers of Men’—Tomorrow’s Priest Collection 2020
+ Our Diocese currently has 24 seminarians.
+The average cost for tuition, room & board is $42,000 per seminarian, creating an annual expense of approximately $1 million.
+ Seminarians study at five different seminaries, 2 college and 3 theologates.
+ Seminary formation programs and local diocesan efforts are developed around four pillars: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral.
Help support our seminarians: donate here!
Invest in our seminarians as they become tomorrow’s priests—donate here!
A message from our Bishop:
The people of our Diocese have experienced many trials and tribulations during this global pandemic. Social distancing requirements have kept us from attending Mass and other liturgical celebrations. These difficult days have been a reminder of how important the sacraments are to our faith, and how critical it is to have priests who are able to provide us with those sacraments.
This year we had twenty-four young men in seminary studies for our Diocese. We will be ordaining three of those men as transitional deacons this year, and hopefully ordain them to the priesthood a year from now. They are eager to serve our communities, and for that I am thankful. We also have dozens of men who are actively discerning a call to the priesthood.
The cost of seminary education is among the largest expenses we have as a Diocese, but also one of the greatest investments we can make. With tuition, room, board and other expenses, the cost of educating each seminarian is about $42,000 per year. When you multiply that amount by the number of seminarians we have it creates an annual expense of roughly a million dollars for seminary education every year.
Each year the Diocese takes up a special collection, the ‘Tomorrow’s Priest’ fund, which is essential to offsetting this expense. I am grateful for all your past generosity with this collection. I recognize that these are uncertain times for so many people whose work hours have been cut or whose businesses have been struggling. Times like these provide us with an opportunity to grow in trust of the Lord, who is eager to provide a shepherd’s care for us. Any amount you might be able to provide in this moment would be of great help.
I keep you all consistently in my prayer, and may God bless you.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
+ Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr.
Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph
