VANCOUVER—A new fund to help seminarians get through school has been officially launched.
"The simple fact is there is no fullness of the Church without the Eucharist, and there is no Eucharist without the priest, and there is no priest without a long period of six to eight years of human, spiritual, theological, and pastoral formation," said Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB.
"Theirs is a long, costly, and difficult journey of preparation, and it is so necessary if they are to serve you as priests who will lead you to the Lord."
Archbishop Miller launched the St. John Vianney Fund during the fourth annual Archbishop's Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Oct. 29.
"To pay for their tuition, room and board, travel expenses: that's primarily what the fund will be for," said vocations director Father Bryan Duggan.
Richard Conlin, a student at the Seminary of Christ the King, told his story to the sold-out crowd of 935 people.
"My vocation story centres around finding the real answer to one question: who is Jesus Christ? Growing up Catholic, I thought I already knew the answer: Jesus is the Son of God Who saved me from my sins. This knowledge had no impact on my life for one big reason: at the age of 9, I discovered the game of golf."
By age 15, Conlin was playing in junior world golf championships and planning to become a famous and wealthy professional golfer. "Thanks be to God, Jesus had much better plans!"
Conlin felt lost, and that he needed to revisit the question: who is Jesus?
He went back to church and the sacrament of confession, after which he felt "everything in my life was about to radically change."
He left his job as an accountant and, unable to see himself getting married anymore, ended a relationship. He started considering the priesthood and found support in Father Duggan, who suggested he take a leap of faith and go to the seminary.
"The first year and a half as a seminarian has truly been the best time of my life," Conlin said. "Although golf is a great game that I still enjoy, it pales in comparison with knowing Jesus Christ and following His call to the priesthood."
There are 28 men studying to become priests in the archdiocese.
"I am delighted beyond all words that in the past five years we have doubled the number of young men studying for the priesthood in the archdiocese," Archbishop Miller said.
"To have this number of seminarians is a great, great blessing."
During his half-hour speech, which some have started calling the "state of the archdiocese address," Archbishop Miller also highlighted several recent archdiocesan milestones.
In the past year, he has blessed three new priestly formation houses, a new St. Augustine's School, a new wing at Notre Dame Regional Secondary School, a new St. Nicholas Parish Centre in Langley, and the new John Paul II Pastoral Centre.
In the past two years he has also dedicated two new churches and re-dedicated a third after extensive renovations. More projects are on the horizon.
"These, our buildings, bear witness to the vitality within the archdiocese and to the good Lord's blessing."
He praised the faithful for contributing about half a million dollars during a special collection for refugees and sponsoring more than 3,000 refugees since 2007, "making us one of the largest sponsors in the country."
Another area of pride for Archbishop Miller is the Catholic school system: he said more than 16,200 students registered this fall, the highest enrolment yet.
"Thank the Good Lord for all that He is doing in our archdiocesan family!"
More information about the fund is available at rcav.org/seminarians. The Archbishop's Dinner benefits a different cause each year.