Vocations are alive and well in the Archdiocese of New Orleans

Archdiocese buoyed by 41 seminarians

Published on Wednesday, 28 September 2016 00:00 | Written by Peter Finney Jr. | |

Archbishop Gregory Aymond told local priests Sept. 20 there are 41 seminarians studying for the priesthood for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
  “That is the largest number of seminarians we have had since the 1980s,” Archbishop Aymond told priests during his state of the archdiocese address at the annual Priests’ Convocation. “The Holy Spirit is alive and well and calling men to the priesthood, and the Holy Spirit is using you to call them to the priesthood.”

Archbishop Aymond said he and Father Kurt Young, the archdiocesan vocation director, are extremely pleased with the quality of the seminarians.

“We are very careful about who we accept and retain,” he said. “Now that we have 41, I’m raising (my expectations) to 50.”

The archbishop also said a new class of 23 permanent deacons will be ordained in 2018. Discernment for a new class of deacons should begin early next year, with probable ordination for that class in 2022.

“There are more people out there who are being called,” the archbishop said. “We can’t wait for them to come to us. I was at LSU recently, and one young woman and two young men said they were thinking about the priesthood and religious life. The seed is being planted.”