Many of you may think that my recent wrist surgery has made me a little loopy with a title of “Three Days” in the middle of August. No, “Three Days” is not an article about the most profound Christian celebration, the Triduum. Rather, it is simply about the remaining three days of the seminarians’ summer recess from the seminary.

Even though the majority of the seminarians have been enjoying the last few weeks at home, the new seminarians from all of the dioceses of Florida have already begun their year of formation. Altogether, there are 35 new seminarians from across the state, including eight from the Diocese of Orlando. (A breakdown of the numbers will be coming shortly.) Along with these 35 men, the additional 44 returning seminarians reenter St. John Vianney College Seminary on Thursday of this week. This makes a total of 79 seminarians for this academic year.

As we return to the seminary this week, please remember to keep us and those responsible for our formation in your prayers, especially during this Year for Priests. Please know that all of our benefactors are prayed for on a daily basis at the seminary. We voice our gratitude in our intercessions during our communal Evening Prayer. Thank you for your prayers and support.

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

As most of the readers are aware, Pope Benedict XVI declared 2009 as the Year for Priests. In commemoration of this declaration, I have decided to publish a new vocation support blog. The blog will go live sometime in the next few days, probably early next week and will be titled, “Whispers of the Spirit.”

Whispers of the Spirit will not only cover vocations stories and thoughts, but will feature interviews with priests and seminarians  from St. John Vianney College Seminary, seminary statistics, etc. The site will also  include any remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI regarding the Year for Priests. If there is something you want covered, please email me and I will do my best to put it up on the site. A special email address will be created for this purpose (to be determined at a later time).

Now, to another major announcement about the blog: Seminarian Cliff Whitty, from the Diocese of St. Petersburg will be a co-writer on the blog. Cliff is the author and creator of Catholic Eye Candy, blog that features different liturgical aspects of the Catholic Church. It is an awesome site and I am very thankful that Cliff has decided to help out in this ever important and necessary endeavor.

I would like to take this time to thank all of you, my readers, for your support and prayers over the last few months. I am quite new to this whole blogging thing and your feedback is much appreciated. Please keep it coming!!

May God bless all of you and may He continue to bless the Roman Catholic Church. St. John Vianney…Pray for us!