{"id":27168,"date":"2013-10-28T07:39:03","date_gmt":"2013-10-28T11:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=27168"},"modified":"2016-09-30T16:01:43","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:01:43","slug":"boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Boom: Florida seminary plans major expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the Sun Sentinel:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A surge of men choosing the Catholic priesthood has prompted a\u00a0Boynton Beach<\/a>\u00a0seminary to begin a $7 million expansion project, including two new dormitories for 106 future priests.<\/p>\n

St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary\u2019s student body has grown from 55 five years ago to 85 this year, said the Rev. David Toups, the seminary\u2019s rector and president. In three years, Toups expects 110 students, the largest group in the seminary\u2019s 50-year history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin an eight-year span, we will have doubled in size,\u201d Toups said. \u201cThis is something not only we\u2019re experiencing, it\u2019s going on all across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Vincent de Paul offers five years of graduate seminary for future Florida priests, as well as some out-of-state seminarians who need bilingual education. About 40 percent of students are native Spanish speakers; all learn to lead Mass in Spanish.<\/p>\n

Although the number of American priests dropped to a record low last year, 38,964, down from 58,632 in 1965, the number of seminarians has been increasing modestly over the past few years, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at\u00a0Georgetown University<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026The Rev. Tom Lafreniere, vocations director for the Diocese of Palm Beach, which has 10 men at the seminary, said several new initiatives with the seminary appear to be working to connect young Catholics with the religious life.<\/p>\n

Posters around the diocese show current seminarians with the slogan, \u201cThey Answered God\u2019s Call. Will You?\u201d Eighth graders have been visiting St. Vincent de Paul to meet seminarians, and a new program will offer tours to Catholic youth groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to demystify the whole process,\u201d Lafreniere said. \u201cWe want to show them priests play basketball, they are not praying all the time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Sun Sentinel:\u00a0 A surge of men choosing the Catholic priesthood has prompted a\u00a0Boynton Beach\u00a0seminary to begin a $7 million expansion project, including two new dormitories for 106 future priests. St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary\u2019s student body has grown from 55 five years ago to 85 this year, said the Rev. David Toups, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,52],"tags":[11194,11200],"class_list":["post-27168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-priests","category-vocations","tag-priests","tag-vocations"],"yoast_head":"\nBoom: Florida seminary plans major expansion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From the Sun Sentinel:\u00a0 A surge of men choosing the Catholic priesthood has prompted a\u00a0Boynton Beach\u00a0seminary to begin a $7 million expansion project,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boom: Florida seminary plans major expansion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From the Sun Sentinel:\u00a0 A surge of men choosing the Catholic priesthood has prompted a\u00a0Boynton Beach\u00a0seminary to begin a $7 million expansion project,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-28T11:39:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T20:01:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/10\/image_gallery-575x274.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/\",\"name\":\"Boom: Florida seminary plans major expansion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-28T11:39:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T20:01:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"From the Sun Sentinel:\u00a0 A surge of men choosing the Catholic priesthood has prompted a\u00a0Boynton Beach\u00a0seminary to begin a $7 million expansion project,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Boom: Florida seminary plans major expansion\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Boom: Florida seminary plans major expansion","description":"From the Sun Sentinel:\u00a0 A surge of men choosing the Catholic priesthood has prompted a\u00a0Boynton Beach\u00a0seminary to begin a $7 million expansion project,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Boom: Florida seminary plans major expansion","og_description":"From the Sun Sentinel:\u00a0 A surge of men choosing the Catholic priesthood has prompted a\u00a0Boynton Beach\u00a0seminary to begin a $7 million expansion project,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2013-10-28T11:39:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T20:01:43+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/10\/image_gallery-575x274.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/","name":"Boom: Florida seminary plans major expansion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-10-28T11:39:03+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T20:01:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"From the Sun Sentinel:\u00a0 A surge of men choosing the Catholic priesthood has prompted a\u00a0Boynton Beach\u00a0seminary to begin a $7 million expansion project,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/boom-florida-seminary-plans-major-expansion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Boom: Florida seminary plans major expansion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}