Ukrainian seminaries are so full they are turning people away.
Full to bursting seminaries is a nice problem for the Church to have. Having lived through the worst that the 20th century has had to offer—Bolshevik Revolution, engineered famines, Stalin, Hitler, More Stalin, the full brunt of the two greatest forms of totalitarianism conceived by the mind of man, and now the aftermath of a dispirited and ruined civilization—it shouldn’t be too surprising that Ukrainians living in the wake of the dreadful catastrophe of man’s rejection of God should be turning back to him with zeal.
What is surprising, or at least not sane, is that the West, having witnessed all the horrors of the 20th century and paid in so much blood to stop them, should now be hell-bent on the rejection of God ourselves. Sin does indeed make you stupid. Having just had occasion to watch The 13th Day (a very fine film which I highly recommend), I am struck again by the warning our Lady gave the children at Fatima about the horrors which awaited the world if we did not repent, offer sacrifice, and consecrate ourselves to God—horrors which fell especially hard on the innocent suffering people of the Ukraine. With the Pope having consecrated Russia (and indeed the world), the pall began to lift (as our Lady promised) twenty years ago. But by no means is the story of the Church’s struggle with evil over—either in Russia nor here in the West where contempt for the gospel grows each day. May God grant our increasingly depraved culture the spirit of repentance that we avoid the judgments the 20th century brought upon itself. And may the people of the Ukraine fight for the salvation of the world as toughened veterans of some of Hell’s worst assaults.
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I hope that so many men are applying to seminary reflects a renewed faith rather than something less exalted such as high unemployment.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, guide those who cannot get into seminaries to your Son, Jesus.
Aren’t these seminaries Eastern Rite? This means the seminarians can get married before diaconate should they choose.
Exactly Joseph. Inconvenient fact: these will be married priests!
In the West, priests do not marry and do not have sex.
In the East, priests do marry and do not have sex.
That’s celibacy for ya!
Dear Nick, Priests in the east have children.
What wonderful news. I have faith that all these men are called by GOD.
Please can we have some? !!!
Ireland is facing another famine, of priests.
Just curious, why would the fact that they are Eastern Rite and therefore in perfect compliance of their Rite able to be Married, be inconvenient?
This is wonderful news and a well written article, but the name of the country is Ukraine. There is no “the”.
As the grandson of a one-time Ukrainian Catholic seminarian (he left to enlist in WWII, and life turned out differently than he expected!), I say, Slava Bogu! Slava voveka Jesu! The Church in the East has suffered so much, united always to the sorrowful and immaculate heart of Mary, that it truly is the triumph of her immaculate heart we are witnessing these days.
And Mark, I have to second the preceeding commenter, it’s simply “Ukraine.” No determinate article necessary!
I have a few questions that you didn’t specify which rites they belonged to or how many or how large the seminaries are. Ukraine now has the presence of three Rites in their country- The Roman Rite, the Greek Orthodox Catholic Rite, and the Ruthenian Rite (I have friends who are part of that Rite in our country). I’m interested to know if the numbers are up in all the Rites or just in one or two. Thanks!
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