The Archdiocese of Louisville’s 23 seminarians have headed to their seminaries for a new school year. Among them are six new seminarians who have formally begun discernment and formation for the priesthood.
“I check on them, especially the new ones. Everyone is doing well,” said Father Martin Linebach, vicar for vocations and director of the Vocation Office.
“Seminary is rigorous because you have the academic dimension, but also the formation responsibility, which includes a very disciplined prayer life and emphasis on the spiritual life.”
— Father Martin Linebach, vicar for vocations and director of the Vocation Office
“There is an adjustment. Seminary is rigorous because you have the academic dimension, but also the formation responsibility, which includes a very disciplined prayer life and emphasis on the spiritual life,” said Father Linebach. “What people expect of their priests is to have an excellent spiritual life.” That foundation is laid in seminary, he said.
The new seminarians come from varied backgrounds.
Ben Crouch is a cellist who studied music in an undergraduate program before leaving to attend seminary. Joseph Randolph and Michael Murphy also left undergraduate programs to attend seminary. Donald Whitworth worked in the heating and air trade before deciding to begin seminary.
Two others have completed undergraduate programs. David Hairston is an organist. George Olokojo is from Uganda, and his uncle is the new Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux, where Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre was bishop before coming to Kentucky.
Before heading to seminary, each of the six new seminarians and those already in formation had assignments over the summer that also contributed to their formation, said Father Linebach.
“I work really hard to get them in the right place for what they need in their formation,” he said.
For example, he said, Conor McClure, who is an accountant, spent part of his summer immersed in Ignatian spirituality, including an eight-day silent retreat, where he could focus on his spiritual formation.
“He said it enhanced his desire for priesthood” and improved his prayer life, Father Linebach noted.
McClure spent the remainder of the summer in the archdiocesan Finance Office, where he learned about that side of archdiocesan ministry.
“Conor said, ‘I think I learned more in the finance office than I had in three years (of coursework).’ Most priests don’t learn these things until they become a pastor,” Father Linebach noted.
Samuel Mattingly, who expressed interest in Hispanic ministry, went to Peru for a Spanish-language immersion program. He spent the rest of the summer serving at the Church of the Annunciation in Shelbyville, Ky., where there is a large community of Hispanic Catholics.
Amos Stinson, who is from eastern Jefferson County, was assigned to St. Dominic Church in Springfield, Ky., where he could get a feel for a parish outside the Metro area.
“It ended up being a blessed time for them,” Father Linebach said. “I really want the best for them — what is helpful and expands their boundaries. Whether that be liturgical, spiritual, fraternal — it’s the human dimension, being a healthy integrated young man.”
To help the seminarians form fraternal bonds, they had an end-of-summer retreat near Nashville at a facility run by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia.
Father Linebach said all 23 were expected to attend — and they all did.
He told them, “ ‘You’re not going to spend your priesthood with your buddy from Dubuque.’ It’s important to me to provide opportunities for them to grow in their fraternal relationship.”
He said one of the sisters, who had hosted the seminarians the previous year, told him, “There’s something different this year; I’m observing that they really like and care for each other.”
Father Linebach said he was glad to hear that, adding that the seminarian handbook provides this instruction: “Take care of your brothers, celebrate their successes and console them in their sufferings.”
“I saw them do that,” he said.
