Year of the Priest: Quigley Scholars

When I was here in April preaching at all the Masses on the “Called By Name” program of the Archdiocese of Chicago, one of the questions that people kept asking me was what does the Archdiocese offer for men who are younger than 18, who are thinking of studying for, or who we think would make good, priests. The answer to that question is the Quigley Scholars Program.

The Quigley Scholars Program was designed and instituted by Francis Cardinal George in 2007 to provide support for Catholic young men in Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago who have interest in Diocesan Priesthood. The Scholars Program is established to promote vocations to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, and in memory of the history of the high school seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago, of which I am a proud graduate of the Class of 2006. When Quigley Seminary closed it’s door in June of 2007, the Scholars Program was launched to continue to foster young vocations to the Priesthood.

Those in the program, like one of our own from St. Thomas will be next year, come from both Catholic and Public Schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago. These young men come once a month to St. Joseph College Seminary, where I live, pray, and to go school, for Mass and Dinner with our entire seminary community, and then they go off, based on years in the program, for formation with our seminarians who are teachers in the program, like me. It is a great opportunity for young men to come together, not only to pray, but also to discuss living out the values of the Quigley Scholars Program in their own various schools, and how they themselves can promote vocations to the Priesthood and call other young men, possibly even their classmates, to become a part of this great program.

I was blessed and lucky to have been “called by name” by own parish priest back when I was in 8^th grade, and I have tons of support from my entire family. Now it is our turn to look within our own Catholic Parish Family for possible candidates to the priesthood. As someone who has been a part of the seminary system for nearly 8 years, it gives me hope to see young men continuing to respond to God’s call in their life. We need priests! That is the reality of our Church. We need people, like you and me, to call young men forward, even those in our own families, to come, learn, and discern, possibly, the call to Priesthood in their life.