Ukrainian seminaries are having to turn away up
to half of the young men seeking to become priests due to a lack of
space.
Coadjutor Bishop Jaroslav Pryriz of the Eparchy of
Sambir-Drohobych reported to Aid to the Church in Need that in some
places, there are three candidates vying for every place in the
seminary.
He stated that many young men are attracted to the priesthood
because of the examples they see of living a challenging vocation.
"When they see good priests, and when they see the Church living out the
social gospel, it inspires them," the prelate affirmed.
He added,
"Many young men see the positives and negatives -- the positive of how
the Church serves people and the negative of how hard life is in the
streets and the villages."
The bishop recalled the example of Blessed
Omelian Kovch, a Ukrainian diocesan priest who helped the Jewish people
during the Nazi occupation and was killed in a Majdanek concentration
camp on the outskirts of Lublin, in Poland in 1944.
Bishop Pryriz said:
"His family tried to free him from prison but he wrote to his family
telling them not to worry. He stayed with the Jewish people and died
with them."
Service and suffering
"The Catholic Church gives a great
example of service and suffering," the prelate affirmed.
"We need to
show people a very great example."
He thanked the aid agency for its
support, noting that it "enabled our Church to regain a normal presence
in the public life of our country" after the fall of communism.
The
bishop sent a message to the agency's donors: "You responded to the
needs of our Church and God's faithful people, and we, in turn, promise
to do all in our power to further the hope we have in common. May God
reward you a hundredfold for your generosity of heart, and we assure
you, our dear friends, that we will remember you in our prayers."
The
agency is offering particular support to the diocese's 86 seminarians
and 287 priests.
Bishop Pryriz said, "We are extremely grateful that
there are people such as you who understand the important role a
priestly vocation can play in today's world and that you put this
insight into practice by offering material support for the formation of
our vocations."
"Together with you," he added, "we are building the
temple of human souls, whose grandeur depends solely on the sincerity of
efforts each one of us is making according to personal ability."