Print Issue: April 18, 2002

The Call To Religious Life Is Strong In Southeast

By Rebecca Rakoczy, Staff Writer

ATLANTA-The South - especially Atlanta - is a boomtown for priestly vocations. With 33 men in major seminary, and 21 in minor seminary, the Archdiocese of Atlanta is currently one of the top dioceses in the nation with men in formation.

As other regions of the nation face a shortage of priests, the archdiocese is preparing to ordain nine men this summer.

Father Brian Higgins, director of vocations for the archdiocese, points to Archbishop John F. Donoghue's institution of perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as a tangible reason for the growth of vocations in this archdiocese. "There's a great correlation between the growth of faith and the growth of clergy and Religious orders ... We've been blessed with such active parishes where both clergy and laity work well together and that's a lot to do with why we have an increase of people coming into the church, and the increase of our clergy."

Father Tim Hepburn, assistant director of vocations sees many men attracted to the priesthood because of Catholicism's relative infancy here.

"The number one reason for vocations here in Atlanta - and really in the Southeast - is the Catholic culture is newer," said Father Hepburn.

"Cities like Chicago and Boston .. those cities have a high degree of cultural Catholicism, which the South does not have. But with all the good that cultural Catholicism has, it also has the element of putting the church to sleep in some places. Here, it feels missionary ... there are lot of evangelical Christians who are searching for an expression of Christianity that's rooted in something that's older than 50 years."

The influx of Spanish speaking peoples has also made a tremendous difference, Hepburn added. "The demographics of the Church in Atlanta has completely changed by the presence of many Hispanics," he said.

Both the numbers of Hispanic Catholics and Anglos are continuing to flood the South. According to a report by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "The Study of the Impact of Fewer Priests on the Pastoral Ministry," the number of Catholics in the South has increased more than 196 percent in the past 40 years. Catholics are still a minority in the South, with almost 322,000 registered Catholics in the Atlanta archdiocese, just about five percent of the total church-going population. But that number is expected to reach a half-million by the year 2008.

The growing population is cause for celebration - and more preparation - as more priests will be needed. "We have a young clergy, but we are always going to need more men," said Father Higgins.