Seventeen students for the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Atlanta met at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit at Conyers this past weekend.

The weekend-long meeting was the first of its kind for the seminarians of the Archdiocese, being both a retreat type gathering and also an organizational session for the seminarians as a group.

The program had been coordinated and planned by John Adamski, a fourth year student at Saint Meinrad Seminary. Working with Father Jerry E. Hardy, archdiocesan vocations director, Adamski is also responsible for setting up the summer seminarians program for which this weekend was a kick-off.

Activities for the weekend centered around talks on Friday and Saturday by Dr. Fred Huff, a local clinical psychologist, and Father Gene Walsh, rector of Theological College at Catholic University in Washington. In addition to the talks by these men, the students had a lengthy discussion with Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan, who celebrated the Eucharist with them on Saturday.

A Saturday evening discussion was held with the membership of the Serra Club of Metropolitan Atlanta on the topic “Priesthood for the 70’s.”

Apart from these activities, the seminarians were busy shaping the structure of their own association for purposes of cooperation and communication.

The seminarians voted to form the “Atlanta Seminarians Association.” Paul Berny of St. Meinrad’s Seminary was elected president of the association, while Terry Young of St. Mary’s Seminary was elected vice-president.

The association plans to work toward united action on the part of the Atlanta students as a group. Of major concern is the present ministry or witness of the future priest. While the future priest is not yet ready for full-time ministry, the seminarians feel some type of service in the archdiocese is necessary. The association has therefore decided to sponsor a number of general meetings during the summer to determine areas of concern and to suggest types of ministry or witness applicable in each of the important areas.

Currently seminarians studying for the archdiocese are required to spend three summers working in the archdiocese either as part of parochial programs or other community service programs.

This year six of the students are employed in the archdiocese, one in a parish situation, and five others in community-oriented service programs. Weekly feedback sessions are scheduled for Tuesday nights during the six-week program.

Weekend visits to outlying parishes are also part of the schedule. This aspect of the summer program was designed to help acquaint the students from outside the state with characteristic aspects of the life of the Church in North Georgia.