Catholic Extension Annual Report 2022

DEVELOPING LEADERS
How do poor dioceses with many
seminarians afford education costs?
We have a creative solution.
Catholics believe that the
priesthood was instituted
by Christ at the Last Supper.
Since then, it has been the Church’s
responsibility to form and prepare those called
to share in the ministerial priesthood.
Today, priests require six to eight years of
formal training. For many poor dioceses that
Catholic Extension supports, the estimated
$45,000 per year to educate, house and feed
a seminarian is an enormous expense. In the
Catholic tradition, the Church sponsors the
education of its seminarians, who in turn commit
to a lifetime of service (and obedience) with
16 / Catholic Extension
little financial reward. While the investment of
education in seminarians eventually pays off
through the lifelong service of the priest, the
up-front cost is no less daunting.
This is especially true in Extension dioceses,
many of which are the nation’s leaders in
recruiting new, “homegrown” diocesan priests.
The Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas, for
example, with only approximately 150,000
Catholics, has ordained 44 new priests just in
the past 15 years. For the sake of comparison,
the country’s largest archdioceses, with
millions of Catholics, would each have had
to ordain more than 1,000 diocesan priests
in the same 15-year period to keep pace
(Above) Father Brian McCaffrey prostrates during his ordination to the priesthood
in the Diocese of Salina, Kansas. Catholic Extension supported his education.
with the Diocese of Little Rock. None have
exceeded 200 ordinations, according to the
Official Catholic Directory.
This means that financially strapped, yet
seminarian-rich dioceses like Little Rock require
innovative funding solutions, such as building
assets that exist in perpetuity for this reoccurring
financial need.
Father McCaffrey shares a special moment with
his mother on the day of his ordination.