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Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2001

"We have 146 men studying for the priesthood now, and the number is going up," he told United Press International. "We have almost reached our capacity."

The Mount, as students, faculty and alumni call this school, is one of the largest Catholic seminaries in the country. Founded in 1808 in Emmitsburg, Md., it is also the second oldest.

The Rev. William Cardinal Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore, said he was particularly excited by the piety of these future clerics. "These young people are an element of hope," he said in an interview with UPI.

"The church is reaching a significant number of them. They want the pure faith."

Rhoades concurred: "In the past, seminarians had to be admonished to spend more time at prayer. The current ones need no encouragement. That's new. They are spiritually very grounded – all of them.

"They are excited about their mission, excited to be men of God."

According to Keeler, more and more summa cum laude graduates from colleges in his province enter seminary. "The academic caliber of our current seminarians is very impressive.

"Today's seminarians are more mature than their predecessors," Rhoades added. "In the past, their average age might have been 25. Now it's about 30. One reason for this trend is that many young men are studying for the ordained ministry after several years of experience in other careers."

"We have two physicians, a physical therapist and an architect among our seminarians," Rhoades continued, "But I believe most others had been working in the computer field."

In addition to young Americans, "there's an influx of immigrants from Africa, Asia and Latin America studying to serve in U.S. dioceses. They amount to about 25 percent of our seminarians," said the rector. "They have come here like missionaries."

Many hail from Nigeria, which, like some other African countries, produces a rich crop of very orthodox theology students for Catholic and Protestant schools.

Today's seminarians evidently show little inclination to engage in the type of biblical speculation that has plagued Western theology – first Protestant, then also Catholic – since the 19th century.

"Rather, they go deep into the deposit of faith. They dive into its mysteries," Rhoades related, "Their favorite theologians are Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Avery Dulles."

Ratzinger is the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Urs von Balthasar a Swiss scholar and Dulles an American Jesuit whom the pope has just made cardinal.

"Our students are all men of the pope's mold. They are excited about him. He is their role model. They are very evangelical," Rhoades concluded.

"This is truly special Catholic moment, a time of renewal. As the pope said, it's springtime for the church."

Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.