Formation never stops
By Fr. Kent Bowlds, Vocation Director
Like any other college students, the seminarians of the Diocese of Jackson breathe a sigh of relief as they finish this spring semester with final exams and papers, but their education continues throughout the summer.
After a short break to spend time with family, travel to the ordinations of seminary friends in other dioceses, or vacation in other ways, most of them will be getting “real world” experience by living and working in parishes of the diocese.
They learn about areas of the diocese with which they might be unfamiliar while getting invaluable practical experiences which help in their continued discerning and learning about the call to the priesthood. It also helps the diocese and seminary faculty to evaluate the seminarians through the formal reports that are submitted during these non-classroom experiences.
Our 10 seminarians have been assigned as follows:
Greg Davidson (from St. James, Corinth) will be at St. Francis, Brookhaven.
Bob Soukup (from St. Paul, Flowood) will be enrolled in a CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) program in a health care facility near his seminary, Sacred Heart, in Wisconsin. All seminarians are required to spend one summer in CPE, which helps them to learn about ministry, and, more importantly, about their own ability to minister to others.
Rusty Vincent (from St. Jude, Pearl) is assigned to St. Joseph, Starkville.
Scott Thomas (from St. Richard, Jackson) will be doing an extended internship (5 months) at St. Patrick and St. Joseph parishes, Meridian. This internship is part of the program for all fourth year theology students at Notre Dame, New Orleans.
God willing, Scott could be ordained to the transitional diaconate in November, and to the priesthood in the summer of 2010.
Patrick Jones (from St. Patrick, Meridian) is assigned to St. James, Corinth.
Juan Chavajay (from Guatemala) will be at St. Richard, Jackson, and will continue his English (ESL) studies at St. Joseph Seminary, Covington, La.
Jose de Jesus Sanchez (from Mexico) will be at St. Therese, Jackson, and will continue his ESL studies at St. Joseph Seminary, Covington, La.
Adam Nobles will be assisting in various ways at his home parish, St. Alphonsus in McComb.
Candido Alvarez and Adolfo Suarez will continue their philosophy studies in Morelia, Mexico; upon the completion of philosophy (2-3 years from now), they will come to the United States for ESL studies, after which they will begin graduate theology.
(For the seminarians’ summer addresses and more information visit them online.)
