When you think we have problems....
KOENIGSTEIN, Germany, JUNE 5, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic seminary in Makurdi in central Nigeria is facing closure this month as a result of the worldwide food crisis, reported Aid to the Church in Need.
Monsignor Kenneth Enang, rector of the seminary, told the aid agency Wednesday that the major seminary, in which some 520 seminarians from 15 dioceses are preparing for the priesthood, has already been forced to ration the food on account of the "astronomical prices."
An additional problem is the price of diesel, which is used to provide electricity. Within just one week, the price of diesel has risen by a third.
The article from Zenit goes on to say that seminaries in other third world countries could close for the same reason.
Here in the US where the young are surrounded by every imaginable kind of noise, poor catechesis, secularism, relativism, and many other kinds of 'isms', it is hard for them to hear the call to the priesthood and our seminaries are not nearly as full as they should be.
Abroad, men in impoverished countries are hearing the call, and the seminaries cannot sustain them.
We need to give money where we can, and where we can't, we need to spend time in adoration, asking Our Lord to assist these places in ways beyond our means. At the same time, we need to pray for more priests here.
When we do get a priest from Nigeria or other third world country, we should be grateful. In some parishes, they face persecution. Sometimes it is because they are orthodox and speak frankly about the faith. Other times it is because people don't want to deal with their accent or they just don't like foreigners. Folks need to grow up and accept priests from whatever distant land they are sent....and be grateful.
Incidentally, ask a priest or sister of Opus Angelorum at Grotto about the monetary needs of the seminary in Brazil where young men do not necessarily get three squares a day.
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