For the last six years, the Homegrown Harvest has grown into our largest annual fundraiser for seminary education. Last year we raised over $200,000 for our seminarians: a record! But with the United In Mission Capital Campaign kicking off and the goal of $10 million dollars going in a trust for seminarian education along with it, I have been receiving a very reasonable question: is the Homegrown Harvest still going to happen? And another related question: what is the difference between supporting the Homegrown Harvest and supporting the Capital Campaign?

Homegrown Harvest will continue, and we hope that it will continue for a long, long time. There were two reasons that we started this event back in 2020: 1) to celebrate the good things the Lord is doing in our diocese through the men who are answering the call to serve as priests; and 2) to raise money to offset annual expenses. Those goals are still on the table, and we believe that this event is worth having because it is a wonderful evening with supporters of our vocation office and our seminarians and their families. The money that we raise helps cover the tuition, books and fees that each of our twelve seminarians need to attend seminary. It also helps cover their health insurance premium if they need coverage, as well as a monthly stipend to help them with incidental costs that come up while they are in formation.
All told, it costs about $55,000 per year to cover one seminarian. So, while our fundraising is certainly up, we will always have yearly needs, especially with more seminarians and applicants than we’ve had in a long time. We have 12 excellent seminarians, and already have three applications for next year, and expecting several more to come.
The Catholic Church across the country is seeing an increase in seminary enrollment, and if you look at our numbers per capita, we are toward the top end of the trend. I continue to be grateful that Bishop Kopacz saw this trend and decided to address it head on.
With the United in Mission Capital Campaign providing long-term stability and predictable funding, Homegrown Harvest and our spring appeal will continue to help meet the seminarians’ year-to-year needs. While these annual efforts will remain essential, they will face less pressure to cover the full cost of seminarian education in the future.
This is a challenge, but it is one that is a great one to have to address, and I know that you would all agree. More seminarians means more priests, which means more access to the sacraments and more support and accompaniment for our parishioners across the diocese. We are playing the long-game, and the Lord is answering our prayers.
I hope that many of you are planning on supporting and attending the Homegrown Harvest this year. It will be on Saturday, Oct. 24, and for the first time, we are having it at the Clyde Muse Center in Pearl. We needed a larger venue because of the great participation we’ve seen over the past several years, so please come celebrate what God is doing in our diocese. We will see you next month!

(Father Nick Adam is Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Jackson. Visit https://bit.ly/HomegrownHarvest26 to purchase tickets or sponsor Homegrown Harvest.)