It’ll be an action-packed couple of weeks in November for Kenrick-Glennon Seminary and the archdiocesan Office of Vocations, with five — count ’em, five — significant events compressed into 15 days, focusing on priestly formation now and in the future. And there’s a little entertainment mixed in.
With so many vocations events upcoming, it’s “game on.”
“It’s really what we live for in the vocations office,” said Father Brian Fallon, assistant vocations director. “It’s fun to be able to interact with youth and young adults in all different stages of discernment and curiosity and commitment, and it’s neat to see the Holy Spirit at work.”
That’ll come after the events, too, when guys “follow up with us, and say, ‘We need to talk a little bit more intently about where I am with the Lord right now, how I’m listening to him,'” Father Fallon said. “That’s the Holy Spirit at work.”
With the Holy Spirit always at the ready, the vocations office actually made the schedule busier than in past Novembers, tweaking one retreat from a general “Come-and-See” format and adding another men’s discernment retreat to the one already scheduled for February.
Here’s a look at the events:
Convivium
The activity will begin with the 25th Annual Convivium Mass and Dinner Auction on Saturday, Nov. 4. The largest annual fundraiser for the seminary, the Convivium supports the seminary’s annual operational budget, the Kenrick Student Life Association, the Cardinal Glennon College Student Activity Fund and seminarian retreats. Auction items will include dinner with Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, an excursion to join Cardinal Timothy Dolan in New York City for St. Patrick’s Day, a trip to Mexico, sports tickets/memorabilia and more.
25th Annual Convivium Dinner Auction
When: Saturday, Nov. 4
Mass: 4:30 p.m., the Chapel of St. Joseph, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, 5200 Glennon Drive, Shrewsbury, 63119
Dinner and Auction: 6 p.m., Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta
Ticket information: call (314) 792-7436 or visit Kenrick.edu/Convivium
Souls and Goals
The fifth annual Souls and Goals soccer game pits a team of seminarians against a team of archdiocesan priests on Thursday, Nov. 9 at Christian Brothers College High School in Creve Coeur. Seminarians have three wins in four previous meetings, winning the first two games and the meeting last year.
“It’s a pretty neat event,” Father Fallon, who joked that he’s “very excited to ride the bench, maybe play a couple minutes and have an orange slice on the sidelines.”
He spends most of the game in social mode, roaming the stands to meet “people from all over the diocese” having fun rooting for their parish priests or just supporting the seminary. He might even meet a new discerner or two. After all, it is National Vocation Awareness Week
Souls and Goals
What: Annual soccer game pitting Clergy and Co. vs. K-G Lions.
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9
Where: CBC High School, 1850 De La Salle Drive, Creve Coeur
Information, visit www.soulsandgoals.org
Men’s Discernment Retreat
An addition to the schedule, the Men’s Discernment Retreat gives men 18 to 33 years old another opportunity to discern whether God may be calling them “to embrace a vocation to the priesthood,” as the vocations website states.
Adding another men’s retreat offers “discernment in the fall,” Father Fallon said. “We’re catering both to guys discerning for next year and also helping guys who are discerning later on in the academic year.”
Men’s Discernment Retreat
When: Friday, Nov. 10 to Sunday, Nov. 12
Where: Kenrick-Glennon Seminary
Information: contact Renae Novak, Vocation Event Coordinator, at (314) 792-6465 or Rnovak@archstl.org; or Father Brian Fallon, at brianfallon@archstl.org.
Organ Recital
Mary Beth Wittry will perform on the A.E. Schlueter Pipe Organ at the seminary’s Chapel of St. Joseph on Thursday, Nov. 16th.
A St. Gabriel the Archangel parishioner, Wittry is no stranger at the seminary, where she was a professor and the director of music 2004-13. Father Fallon called her, simply, “a really talented musician.”
Organ Recital
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16 (doors open, 7 p.m.)
Where: Chapel of St. Joseph, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary
Admission: Free and open to the public
Information: visit www.kenrick.edu/organ-recital
Junior and Senior Retreat
Formerly one of two “Come and See” weekends for high school freshman through seniors, the focus of this retreat was changed to focus solely on high school juniors and seniors. The “Come and See” format remains for the event in March.
The format change gives juniors and seniors “a retreat of their own” as well as the opportunity to “discern a little bit more intently,” Father Fallon said.
Junior and Senior Retreat
When: Friday, Nov. 17 to Sunday, Nov. 19
Where: Kenrick-Glennon Seminary Information: call (314) 792-6465, or email Rnovak@archstl.org or brianfallon@archstl.org.
