Conception Seminary College Stable, Growing, Responding
Stable, Growing…
The Benedictine charism of stability has carried our monastic community through challenges by providing a reliable foundation of trust in God’s providential care. A testament to this stability is last year’s celebration of 150 years that many of you joined us for, praising God for sustaining us, helping make many significant contributions to the Church, and looking forward to what is on the horizon. Likewise, the seminary relies on grace to remain a stable and growing institution that responds to the needs of the Church. We are grateful for the support we have received throughout our history, which has enabled us to build for the future.
When the new seminary administration began in 2019, seminary enrollment was at 45 seminarians and would reach a low of 25 in 2021. These were lean years made more difficult by the pandemic. So, we focused our energy and made improvements to our formation program and our physical campus. We took the time to get ourselves back in shape to successfully run the race of forming future priests. The monastic community and our many friends have supported us along the way. The monks remain convinced that God entrusts us with this work and that our Benedictine values strengthen priestly formation.
This stable foundation and our belief has allowed us to implement new endeavors and renew accreditation, which we accomplished this past year, all of which is bearing fruit. Our new Mission Team initiated “Operation Thunder” to focus on research, marketing, and building relationships, with the goal of increasing enrollment.
In 2023, we saw growth in overall enrollment with 32 seminarians, an increase of 28 percent from the previous year. Then, this past August, a further 25-percent increase brought enrollment to 40 seminarians. Dioceses are eager to send their men here for formation, including five dioceses in the last two years that have returned or started sending to us for the first time. Indeed, the Lord continues to use Conception Seminary College as an instrument for the good of the Church.
— Fr. Victor Schinstock, OSB
President-Rector
…And Responding
In recent years, Conception Seminary College has learned to pivot, adapt, and respond to the needs of our seminarians and client dioceses. Here are some of the initiatives that demonstrate this responsiveness.
Better communication. The speed of technology has helped communication between Conception’s formation staff and vocation directors improve. One must be prudent, but often conversations about developing issues sooner allows for better solutions and putting problems into proper perspective. This improves the overall relationship with our client dioceses. It assumes we know the seminarians well, of course.
Annual Healing Retreat. A growing feature in seminary formation is healing. The seminarians come with family of origin wounds, the effects of exposure to internet pornography, and other insecurities. For the last three years we have offered a three-day Healing Retreat with an outside speaker, opportunities for individual counseling, and healing prayer within the community. Not only has it helped new seminarians open up, but for our returning students, it helps to uncover issues that could only come with experience in formation. Healing is a necessary part of achieving self-possession, a requisite for pastoral charity.
Propaedeutic Stage. The Church asked us to dedicate a full year to intensive Human and Spiritual Formation for all new seminarians. The Propaedeutic Stage has shown that men are capable of things sooner in formation, such as peer evaluations, than we had thought. The first year of the Propaedeutic Stage has shown us that spending much time in peer reflection makes them ready for the challenging parts of formation broached sooner with attending benefits of self-confidence.
Vocation Promotion. We serve many rural dioceses and often our vocation directors are part-time. Conception has promised to allow seminarians to help promote vocations in local churches. For example, at the Diocese of Dodge City’s Eucharistic Congress, not only did their one affiliated seminarian attend, but seven other seminarians attended and assisted. Additionally, we are actively seeking better ways to support dioceses and to follow up and nurture vocations after our Encounter With God’s Call weekends via video call reflections with participants continuing to discern their call.
These are just some of the concrete ways we are responding to needs. We have confidence in the 150-year tradition of forming priests at Conception. Nonetheless, we are ready to meet the needs of a changing world.
— Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB
Vice-Rector / Dean of Students
