Bishop Kevin Farrell

The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

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We welcome our seminarians

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A banner year for seminarians for the Diocese of Dallas will be celebrated Saturday, October 1, at the 2011 Seminarian Welcome Dinner at the Farimont Hotel in downtown Dallas. The Most Rev. Daniel Flores, Bishop of Brownsville, will be the featured speaker.

The event is especially significant because our diocese has 70 seminarians, a record number and an increase of 14 over 2010. In addition to our Dallas seminarians, seminarians from eleven other dioceses who are in formation at Holy Trinity Seminary will be welcomed.

Bishop Flores is among seven bishop alumni of Holy Trinity Seminary. He was ordained in 1988 for the Diocese of Corpus Christi and was named Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit in November of 2006. In December 2009 he was named Bishop of Brownsville.

An indication of the dramatic increase in priestly vocations is the fact that Holy Trinity will have 67 seminarians as compared to 21 in 2007. The Lord has truly blessed us with this very fine group of young men.

Please continue to pray for vocations and remember to encourage young people to consider a vocation to the priesthood and religious life.

A record number of new seminarians

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It is great to have some good news to report these days and a record number of 19 new seminarians is certainly good news. Not only is the number of new seminarians up from the 11 we had last year, but it is also a record year for the diocese.

Fifteen of the men come from our own parishes. Indeed the Holy Spirit has been working through parents, priests and our vocations staff to bring about this blessing for our diocese. The prayers of many have been answered.

Twelve of the new seminarians will be attending Holy Trinity Seminary, two will be going to St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston, two to Assumption Seminary in San Antonio and two will be attending a seminary in Mexico City and one to Pope John XXIII Seminary.

Returning seminarians plus the new men bring our total number of seminarians for the diocese to 70, a significant increase over the 56 in 2010.

Finally, there is even more good news. Next year we will be ordaining five new priests to serve the Diocese of Dallas.

Please continue to pray and to work for vocations to the priesthood.