2009 Ordination Survey

The USCCB has released their annual survey of the upcoming ordination class. Of local note:

Pre-seminary education and careers vary. Will Straten, of Austin, graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in agronomy and specialized training in turf management. Barry Stechschulte, of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, was a teacher and administrator at a Catholic elementary school. Carl Melchior of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida, was equipment manager for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Edward Hegnauer of Washington is a geologist.
Matt Lee, one of seven men to be ordained for the Cincinnati Archdiocese, had a 12-year career in computer programming in the U.S. Air Force. Ken Halbur Jr. of the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, also worked in information technology. David Cupps, of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, worked for 18 years at Capital One and was one of the first people in its information technology division. Stephen Schultz, one of the men to be ordained for the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, was director of operations at a computer server manufacturer.

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Diocesan class sizes vary. The Archdiocese of Newark will ordain 13 men, for either the Newark Archdiocese or the Neo-Catechumenal Way, a church movement which has a seminary in Newark. The Chicago Archdiocese will ordain 10 men; the Washington Archdiocese, eight. The Diocese of Memphis, Tennessee, will ordain six men, two of whom did seminary studies in Mexico. Cincinnati will ordain seven; from 2000-2009 it has averaged five ordinations a year.

Ordination Class of 2008

The Annual report on the new ordinands is fresh off the presses. Well, ok, it's electronic.

A particular highlight:

Some share involvement in church activities. The three men from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ryan Ruiz, 26; Jason Bedel, 34; and Ed Pratt, 45, are all fourth degree Knights of Columbus.