“SOS!” September is “Support Our Seminarians” Month!
CHICAGO, IL [MW Diocese Communications] — Once again, September has been designated “Support Our Seminarians” Month in the Diocese of the Midwest as His Grace, Bishop Paul, calls upon the faithful to support seminary students — many of whom will soon be called upon to pastor our parishes.
“As your bishop, I am beginning to ‘feel the pinch,’ so to speak, for candidates to fill present and future positions,” wrote His Grace, Bishop Paul in a recent letter to all parishes and diocesan faithful. “All the more why we need to encourage our parishes to bring potential candidates for seminary to my attention. We need this annual seminary collection to further support the seven students that are attending this year. These $1,000 diocesan scholarships per semester are greatly appreciated by our students.”
In an effort to build awareness of our seminarians’ needs, SOS flyers are available for downloading and distribution in all parishes during the month of September. The flyer is available in color and black-and-white PDF formats. All donations from parishes as well as individuals — culminating in “SOS Sunday” on September 29 — will be distributed directly to the seminarians to offset the cost of their educational and living expenses.
Regardless of how a parish chooses to raise SOS funds, the result will help ensure that our seminarians and their families will find some measure of “relief” from increasing living and educational expenses. Several of the seminarians have shared their expressions of gratitude for this relief in the following videos:
Seminarian Deacon Ephraim Tauck
Seminarian Matthew Pings
Seminarian Peter Simko
Seminarian Matthew Mcdonald
Seminarian Payton Saunders
Seminarian Jacob Ponomarenko
