Youngstown Diocese holds congress on religious vocations

Published: 2004-04-16

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (CNS) -- Wrapping up a diocese-wide Congress on Vocations to the Priesthood and Consecrated Life, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Youngstown said he hoped the day would mark a "springtime of new life and growth for our diocesan church." Nearly 500 delegates from parishes, religious orders, schools and institutions gathered March 27 for one of the largest assemblies in the history of the diocese. Participants discussed a basic reality confronting the six-county, northeastern Ohio diocese: Its 235,000 Catholics need more priests and religious. "The need for a program like this today, it seems to me, is as evident as our need for vocations to the consecrated life and the priesthood," Bishop Tobin said. The 118-parish Youngstown Diocese currently has 120 active diocesan priests, but their median age is 66. It has 12 seminarians, but none will be ordained this year.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .