A growing proportion of men entering Sydney’s Seminary of the Good Shepherd are coming from regional Australian dioceses, a sign of hope for its rector, Fr Michael de Stoop. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
This year, eight young men are devoting a year to listening deeply to God’s voice at the seminary in Homebush.
Aged from their mid-20s to early 30s, they come from a range of careers and university programs. Three hail from overseas.
All are committed to discerning if they are being called to serve the Church as one of her priests.
A smaller intake than last year’s record-breaking “super 17” is no problem for seminary rector Fr de Stoop, who is delighted to see more of them coming from the state’s regions.
That includes Bathurst, which until the 2010s had a 30-year drought in priestly vocations.
Now at the halfway point of the first crucial year, three of the new group for 2024 are from the Archdiocese of Sydney, one from Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, one from the Maronite Eparchy, and one each from the Dioceses of Bathurst, Armidale and Wollongong.
“There are always peaks and troughs in vocations ministry, and it’s been very encouraging to see that there has been a steady intake of seminarians from some of the regional dioceses such as Bathurst and Armidale,” he said.
“Generally. we’re noticing the numbers of rural seminarians are currently going up, while those from urban areas such as Sydney and Broken Bay are going down.
“For me that raises the question, could this be something which is a consequence of COVID?
“Because at the time of the COVID lockdowns people in the rural areas still managed to maintain connection, whereas those who were under lockdowns in the urban areas may consequently had some lingering disconnection and lack of a sense of community.”
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Seminary sees promising rise in future priests for regional Australia (By Marilyn Rodrigues, The Catholic Weekly)
