"Tsunami" of vocational interest following papal visit

New York Daily News reports that Pope Benedict's U.S. visit has resulted in "a tsunami of New York seminary applications:

A clergy-starved Archdiocese of New York was facing a crisis - until Pope Benedict arrived.

For the first time in 108 years, St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers was preparing for a year with no new students.

But, after the Holy Father's whirlwind city tour, dozens have heard the call.

"It's been like a tsunami, a good tsunami of interest," said the archdiocese's vocations director, the Rev. Luke Sweeney.

"I've been meeting people all week and have a lot of e-mails I haven't had the chance yet to respond to. It has been incredible."

For a city whose ratio of priests-to-congregation members is among the worst in the country, Benedict's presence and inspiration has been a blessing to Reverend Sweeney:

"We were hoping the Pope would convince many who were considering the priesthood to make the next step. It looks like he did."

In only three days since the Pope left New York after a visit that included speaking to 25,000 young people on the seminary's grounds, dozens of prospective priests have contacted Sweeney.

"One said he came, saw the crowd, heard what the Pope said and then called us," said Sweeney. "He said his questions and concerns were answered when he heard him speak."

Related

• Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for the 45th Day of Prayer for Vocations April 13, 2008.
• Saint Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie) (Homepage)

"Fishers of Men" USCCB vocations video produced by Grassroots Films - Part I embedded | "Fishers of Men - Part II

Pope Benedict XVI waves before leaving St. Joseph's Seminary after a meeting with youth in Yonkers, New York April 19, 2008. (Reuters)

Rally with Seminarians and Youth at St. Joseph's Seminary

What's Happening Today: Saturday, April 19 (3rd Anniversary of Pope Benedict's Pontificate)
5-6:30 p.m. - Rally with Seminarians and Young People at Saint Joseph Seminary
NOTE: This post will be updated as more information becomes available on this topic.

5-6:30 p.m. - Rally with Seminarians and Young People at Saint Joseph Seminary Approximately 25,000 young Catholics from throughout the United States, including 5,000 seminarians will be in attendance at Saint Joseph Seminary, 201 Seminary Avenue, Yonkers.

• 12:00 noon - Concert begins. Concert activity ceases when the Pope arrives at seminary for the meeting with youth with disabilities. That meeting inside the chapel will be shown on screens to the rally crowd.
• 5:00 p.m. - Arrival, welcome, and rally
  • The Pope arrives via popemobile at the rally stage
  • Cardinal Edward M. Egan makes opening remarks
  • Three youth speak
  • 10 youth present gifts of dark bread, light bread, rice, unleavened bread and maize, representing the five continents
  • Eight youth present birthday gifts to the Pope. They include the following: a spiritual bouquet; the book “Empire State Catholics: A History of the Catholic Community in New York State”; and images of six individuals who were born in or served in New York and have been declared saints, blessed or venerable by the Catholic Church: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint John Neumann, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Venerable Pierre Toussaint and Padre Felix Varela
  • Address: Pope Benedict XVI
  • Cardinal Edward M. Egan presents 15 young people to the Pope for a personal greeting
  • The Pope blesses the crowd and departs to the popemobile, which takes him back to the motorcade in front of the seminary
• 6:30 p.m. - Rally concludes

Text of Pope Benedict XVI's address to Seminarians at St. Joseph Seminary (Yonkers, NY).

Coverage

• Gary Stern (Blogging Religiously) calls it a "mini-World Youth Day":

  There are people everywhere. I ran into Father Luke Sweeney, head of vocations for the Archdiocese of NY, and he said that it’s like a mini-World Youth Day.

  Hoping for some future priests in that crowd, Father?

  The music is loud, just like at a rock concert. Rappers and rockers praising Jesus and pumping up the pontiff. Kelly Clarkson is supposed to come on in about 15 minutes.

  I’ve talked to a lot of kids from burbs and, almost to a person, they seem kind of stunned to be with so many other Catholic kids, all waiting for the pope. . . .

• Pope cheered at youth rally in Yonkers, By Ernie Garcia, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon and Leah Rae. (The Journal News April 19, 2008):

  YONKERS - Pope Benedict XVI rode around the grounds of St. Joseph’s Seminary in the popemobile to cheers from thousands as a youth rally was getting under way that has drawns tens of thousands of young people and families.

  The pope arrived at the seminary shortly after 4:35 p.m. and blessed 50 disabled children and their caregivers in the seminary’s chapel.

  He glided up the aisle, going back and forth to children lined up on either side of him touched their heads very gently.

  In his blessing, he extended his hands over the crowd and said God had blessed them with life and differing talents and gifts so they could serve him in various ways in a “sign of hope for everyone.”

  He continued: “Sometimes, it is challenging to find a reason for what appears only as a difficulty to be overcome or even pain to be endured. Yet, our faith helps us to break open the horizon beyond our own selves to see life as God does.”

  The pope was seated in the chapel with the Deaf Choir of the New York Archdioces to his left. They expressed a hymn in sign language, and he applauded them.

  Three little girls went up to the altar and gave him a child’s painting. Then, he left the chapel and got into the popemobile for the trip to the great stage set up on the grounds for the youth rally.

  Tens of thousands of young people and families from all over the country were gathered on a field next to seminary building. They filled hours of waiting by watching performers on a large concert stage, with screens at either side and flanked at the left with the seal of the Archdiocese of New York and at the right with the papal seal. ... (Read More)

• Pope urges young people to banish evils of drugs, poverty, racism, by Benedicta Cipolla (Catholic News Service April 19, 2008):

  Addressing a crowd of 25,000 young people and seminarians, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the "monster" that cast a shadow over his own childhood and urged the current generation to banish the darkness that exists today.

  Speaking April 19 at a boisterous rally on the grounds of the Archdiocese of New York's seminary in Yonkers, the pope said that while young people now enjoy democracy's freedom, "the power to destroy does, however, remain."

  Pope Benedict offered a personal reflection on his own youth in Germany, "marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers." Nazism, he said, "banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good." The pope was forced to enroll in Hitler Youth as a boy but soon stopped going to meetings. Last year he said at a youth meeting in Germany that he decided to become a priest after witnessing the Nazis' brutality.

  At St. Joseph's Seminary, the pope said the evils of substance abuse, homelessness and poverty, racism, violence and the degradation of girls and women result in people being treated as objects and the denial of God-given human dignity.

  Pope Benedict called the manipulation of truth "particularly sinister." When freedom disregards absolute truth, relegating it instead to the private sphere of the individual, relativism takes hold, he said.

  Truth is neither an imposition nor a simple set of rules.

  "Ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ," he said.

  [...]

  During the meeting, young people from schools in the region presented the pope, who celebrated his 81st birthday April 16, with several gifts, including framed photographs of Sts. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Frances Cabrini and John Neumann, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and Venerables Pierre Toussaint and Father Felix Varela, all of whom were either born in or served in New York. He also received books on the history of the Catholic Church in New York; bread, rice and maize, which symbolized the varied cultural background of the youth present.

  [...]

  The rally gathered young people and seminarians, and Pope Benedict encouraged those studying for the priesthood to "reject any temptation to ostentation, careerism or conceit. Strive for a pattern of life truly marked by charity, chastity and humility, in imitation of Christ," he said. ... (Read More)

• Benedict and the Young, by Colleen Carroll Campbell:

  It happens every time the pope encounters a young crowd, and it is happening again at the papal youth rally in Yonkers: Young Catholics will turn out in droves to give Pope Benedict a warm, rock-star welcome. And many of their elders will watch and wonder: What do they see in him?

• Musicians play "Papalpalooza" for Benedict, by Deborah Evans Price (Reuters April 19, 2008)

Blessing for Youth with Disabilities at St. Joseph's Seminary

What's Happening Today: Saturday, April 19 (3rd Anniversary of Pope Benedict's Pontificate)
4:30 p.m. - Blessing of Youth with Disabilities at Saint Joseph Seminary
NOTE: This post will be updated as more information becomes available on this topic.

On May 17, 1891, Archbishop Michael J. Corrigan laid the cornerstone of the present Saint Joseph Seminary in the Dunwoodie section of Yonkers, just a few miles north of New York City. The first scholastic year began September 21, 1896, with 98 students. The institution now serves men in formation for the priesthood; it has programs for those studying to become permanent deacons and a master of arts in religious studies for lay and clergy. Pope John Paul II visited on October 5, 1995.

• 4:30 p.m. - The Pope arrives via motorcade at the front of main seminary building. Cardinal Edward M. Egan and Bishop Gerald T. Walsh, rector of the seminary welcome the Pope. The Pope will enter the seminary and proceed forward to the chapel sanctuary. In the audience approximately 50 young people with disabilities and their caregivers.

Program

• Greeting and presentation
• The Pope blesses those present
• The Archdiocesan Deaf Choir performs
• The Pope departs out the front door of the Seminary to enter the popemobile
• Popemobile route: Popemobile will travel the circle in front of the seminary and proceed west to the “Lower Chidwick” and circle the field

Holy Father calls handicapped to be signs of hope, apostles of prayer Catholic News Agency. April 19, 2008:

New York, Apr 19, 2008 / 04:59 pm (CNA).- This afternoon 50 young people with disabilities had the chance to meet with Pope Benedict, who encouraged them to be a sign of hope and to continue to intercede for others with their prayers.

“God has blessed you with life, and with differing talents and gifts”, the Holy Father told the youngsters. “Through these you are able to serve him and society in various ways. While some people's contributions seem great and others' more modest, the witness value of our efforts is always a sign of hope for everyone,” he said.

The Pope sympathized with the pain that handicapped children endure and called them to see life as God does.

“Sometimes it is challenging to find a reason for what appears only as a difficulty to be overcome or even pain to be endured. Yet our faith helps us to break open the horizon beyond our own selves in order to see life as God does. God's unconditional love, which bathes every human individual, points to a meaning and purpose for all human life. Through his Cross, Jesus in fact draws us into his saving love and in so doing shows us the way ahead - the way of hope which transfigures us all, so that we too, become bearers of that hope and charity for others.”

Full remarks of Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to disabled youth St. Joseph Seminary, Yonkers NY.

Flashback: Grand Inquisitor, circa 1988

"In essence, you are looking at the Grand Inquisitor", says Cardinal O'Connor, introducing then-Joseph Ratzinger to fellow participants at a conference on biblical scholarship in 1988. Even then, he was capable of suprising those misled by the Dostoyevskian caricature of his critics:

In fact, Cardinal O'Connor's introduction was very effective. His disarming quip cleared the way for him to praise Cardinal Ratzinger not only for his scholarship but also for his "gentleness and compassion."

In any case, the image of a gaunt and fierce Torquemada hardly seemed to fit the kind-faced, white-haired, soft-spoken, diminutive churchman who then took the podium to deliver a scholarly lecture.

Cardinal Ratzinger also made a distinctly non-inquisitorial impression on an interdenominational group of theologians with whom he met in a closed conference on biblical scholarship Thursday and Friday in New York City.

The Cardinal "never pulled rank," observed Bishop William Lazareth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

"Very impressive," said Dr. David Wells, a Congregational clergyman and professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass.

"There was nothing inquisitorial about this conference," said the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, director of the Rockford Institute's Center on Religion and Society, which sponsored the meeting.

[From "Cardinal Is Seen as Kind, if Firm, Monitor of Faith ", by Peter Steinfels. New York Times February 1, 1988 | via: Benodette @ The Benedict Forum -- who also has photos of the Pope's visit to St. Joseph's seminary, including a commemorative tree he planted there twenty years ago].

NY1 on Ratzinger's Return to St. Joseph's Seminary

Pope Benedict Returns To Yonkers Seminary After 20 Years - Shazia Khan. NY1.com March 20, 2008:

Twenty years ago, Father Michael Morris was still a student at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, when a special guest from Vatican City paid a visit – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the German man who will return to New York City in April as Pope Benedict XVI.

“The enthusiasm was incredible because we read his books," said Morris. "He's a scholar - that's his work. He's a teacher and he's a studier, he's a reader, he's a great student. And we were just thrilled to be able to meet him.”

Back in 1988, Ratzinger was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, responsible for defending the church orthodoxy. He came to be known as “Cardinal No,” even “God's Rottweiler” for his strict adherence to the doctrine.

This April, Ratzinger will go back to St. Joseph’s Seminary as part of his papal visit.

“The pope's job is to proclaim the message of our faith in Jesus Christ and proclaim what that means and how people must live their lives and how to develop it,” said Father Gerard Rafferty, a professor at St. Joseph’s Seminary.

“In his last job, he was given the task of looking at what other people were doing and proclaiming and then trying to evaluate and help them evaluate whether in fact they were remaining consistent to the church,” said Rafferty. [...]

Bishop Gerald Walsh, the seminary’s rector, will join Edward Cardinal Egan to welcome the pope who will first greet seminarians before meeting a small group of children with disabilities in the chapel. He will then step outside and on to a stage to address more than 20,000 young Catholics, some of whom might be interested in religious vocations.

Michael Martine - "The Dunwoodie Disciple"

The Dunwoodie disciple Westchester County Business Journal March 20, 2008. Bill Fallon interviews Father Michael Martine, professor of canon law and seminary procurator (overseer) who is heading "an army of 40 or 50" in readying Yonkers' St. Joseph's Seminary for the papal visit and youth rally:

Martine – pronounced martini – is 37. He cited confidentiality regarding the visit’s budget, but noted it possesses planning elements unique to the pope’s world: 500 chalices are needed and confessionals for the repentant must be built. Without noting we are all sinners, Martine pointed out the broad plaza area that will be filled with confessionals. It seemed a lot were planned. “We’re hoping people will want the sacrament,” Martine said.

The super-modern stage is something to make Aerosmith pea green with arena envy. There will be “name entertainment” – Martine’s phrase – during the five-plus hours the youths fill the campus. And there will be at least something of the atmosphere of a festival, with, as Martine said, “hamburgers, hot dogs, T-shirts and religious articles for sale.”

Benedict will be celebrating his 81st birthday on April 16th at St. Joseph's, with "a girl’s choral group singing “Happy Birthday” in the pope’s native German."

The article mentions some interesting historical details about the seminary:

• A chair handmade in Yonkers for Pope John Paul II’s St. Joseph’s visit in 1995. It still retained John Paul II’s seal as of March 7. But it is now to be refitted with the seal of Benedict XVI. Martine is a born raconteur and he offered an anecdote surely little-known outside the world of Vatican insiders: Pope John Paul I, who served only 33 days as pope in 1978, changed the etiquette of the papal seal as one of his few acts. It would no longer feature a crown. John Paul II’s papal coat of arms – prominently supporting the Virgin Mary – will be replaced by Benedict’s, which features a bear, a nod to the forests of his native Germany, Martine said. “And there will be no crown.”

• An Irish penal chalice: The mass’ sacred cup harks to Christ’s last supper; this Elizabethan version was made to be quickly disassembled and hidden because priests caught celebrating mass could be hanged in 17th-century Ireland. The campus is also rich in statuary, with St Patrick and cornerstone-layer Archbishop Corrigan in line for a pre-pope power-washing and the flagpole slated for a fresh coat of paint.

Middletown, NY band Full Armor to play Papal Youth Rally

Middletown, NY's "Full Armor" will play Papal Youth Rally, by Ashley Kelly. Times-Herald Record March 18, 2008:

OTISVILLE — The letter arrived in Douglas Hutchings mailbox on a mundane day in February.

But the news inside the envelop changed all that: His band, Full Armor, had been selected to perform for the Pope.

The upbeat folk/rock Christian band will be performing at the Archdiocese of New York's Meeting with Youth and Seminarians. The April 19 youth rally at Saint Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers will be in honor of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to New York. The papal journey to the U.S. will be Benedict's first since his papacy began in 2005.

Full Armor submitted their music in December, but weren't sure they would get the nod.

"I was optimistic, but I had no idea 150 groups were being considered — I thought no way," said Hutchings, the band's manager.

After reading the letter from the archdiocese he called the band's vocalist, Tara Lakeman.

"We were freaking out on the phone," Lakeman said. "It's probably the most honorable performance I've ever done and probably will ever do in my life."

Full Armor, a six-member band, was formed in 2005 at the request of a former priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Middletown. The priest asked Hutchings, now 19, to form a band that would perform every Sunday for the youth Mass. The band now performs at Mount Carmel and numerous churches throughout the area regardless of denomination.

Pray, that Pope Benedict XVI's Visit may Inspire Vocations!

Priests hope Pope Benedict visit inspires vocation, by Gary Stern. Westchester Journal News March 11, 2008:

When Pope Benedict XVI addresses 20,000 youths at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., and 60,000 people at Yankee Stadium next month, many priests will be crossing their fingers that the pontiff urges -- demands, even -- that young Catholic men consider a collar.

Like the Detroit area, the Archdiocese of New York is in serious need of new priests. Of the 176 Catholic dioceses in the U.S., the Archdiocese of New York ranks 170th in terms of the ratio of seminarians to the total Catholic population, according to a December study by Catholic World Report.

Detroit also ranked in the bottom 20 in the report, but unlike New York, will not be receiving a papal visit.

Right now the main seminary at St. Joseph's is preparing only 23 seminarians for possible ordination as diocesan priests over the next four years.

And not a single man is scheduled to enter the seminary program next fall.

Related:

• Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations
• Priestly Life and Vocations Summit: Fishers of Men

Pope Benedict to address Youth in Yonkers

Gary Stern (Lower Hudson Online) has the scoop on Pope Benedict's scheduled visit to St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, NY:

Pope Benedict XVI's scheduled visit to St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers will revolve around a meeting with disabled youths inside the seminary chapel and then a papal address to nearly 20,000 young people from across the region who will assemble on the seminary grounds.

The April 19 visit will take place in the late afternoon, and the pope should be in Yonkers for about 90 minutes. . . .

It will be on the afternoon of April 19 that nearly 20,000 youths from parishes across the archdiocese and neighboring dioceses will be bused to parking areas on the grounds of the Yonkers seminary. The gathering will probably look much the same as when Pope John Paul II visited St. Joseph's on Oct. 6, 1995.

"I think we have a well-rehearsed plan," said Mark G. Ackermann, executive director of the archdiocese's office of the papal visit. "The grounds will be tightly controlled, but it's a good plan."

When Benedict arrives - John Paul came to Yonkers by helicopter, but such details will be confidential until the event - he will first meet with about 50 disabled young people in the seminary chapel.

"He will want to let them know that they are as welcome as anyone, as important to him as anyone else in God's family," said Bishop Gerald Walsh, the seminary's rector.

The youths who will be invited are still being identified by archdiocesan officials. . . .

At Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers, as at other Catholic schools across New York, everyone is itching to get tickets.

"We are very excited as a school, certainly," said Alexander Malecki, JFK's director of alumni and public relations. "It's really a once-in-a-lifetime event for most people. For our youngsters, it's something they've never experienced, the pageantry of it. We are looking forward to putting together a contingency to go down. It will be something to see."