West coast seminary: vocations are up

by Joshua J. McElwee

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jmcelwee@ncronline.org

Maybe this should be filed in the 'knock on wood' folder.

The San Mateo County Times reports this morning that St. Patrick's Seminary & University in Menlo Park, Calif. has been experiencing a slow, but steady rise in the number of seminarians over the past few years.

"It's a national thing we're experiencing," the Rev. James McKearney, St. Patrick's president, said of the upward trend in those pursuing priesthood.

"There's been a lot of anxiety in light of the fact that the church has been getting a lot of bad press," McKearney said, "but the vast majority of priests are good men. (St. Patrick's seminarians) want to be good priests as opposed to those who haven't lived their vows. They are not dissuaded by the bad press."

In the coming academic year, St. Patrick's is expected to have more than 100 seminarians following a steady rise since 2006 when it served 88 students.

The projected enrollment includes 34 new students, according to the school.

"We haven't seen that in many years," McKearney said. "It's an exciting time."

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