Andrew Dinners Continue in Archdiocese

This week's Catholic Telegraph features a report on the Andrew Dinners held so far throughout the Archdiocese of Cincinnati:


ARCHDIOCESE — Nearly 180 young men have been encouraged to consider the possibility of becoming priests during a series of Andrew Dinners held across the Cincinnati archdiocese over the past year.

There have been eight dinners so far. The first was in April 2009 at Holy Angels Parish in Sidney. The goal is to hold Andrew Dinners in each of archdiocese’s three regions twice a year, said Father Kyle Schnippel, archdiocesan vocations director.

Andrew Dinner Report

Last night, we held our 6th Andrew Dinner in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

We are averaging over 20 young men attending per dinner.

One current seminarian attended the initial Andrew Dinner last spring and began the application process a few weeks later.

5 of the men currently in application for college seminary this fall (some of whom are already accepted) have attended Andrew Dinners either this spring or last fall.

Last night, at the conclusion of our dinner in West Milton, north of Dayton, one of the attendees approached and said the words every vocation director wants to hear: 'What do I have to do to enter this fall?'

I will call him today!

Thanks for all the prayers, please keep them coming!

(He puts us at a progected 39 seminarians for this fall, one more.......)


UPDATE: One more puts us at 40, my target for this year. Anything over is Gravy.

Oh, they are renovating more rooms at Mount St. Mary's to bring the total student rooms to 65. I really want to have to send guys elsewhere (or come up with alternative housing)....

Andrew Dinners Report

The Catholic Telegraph runs a report from our fall round of Andrew Dinners in this week's edition. They have been met with great success so far, and with a good turnout for our last dinner for this fall tonight, we should have over 100 young men, mostly high school juniors and seniors, attend and hear about the possibility of seminary for college.


ST. LAWRENCE DEANERY — The young men enjoying dinner at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Oct. 28 talked of the usual things high school boys discuss: school, grades and the high school football playoffs.

But these young men also spoke of the seminary and their possible call to the priesthood at the third Andrew Dinner held this fall in the Cincinnati archdiocese. The dinners allow men, mostly juniors and seniors in high school, to learn more about the priesthood.

Eighteen students from the west side of Cincinnati attended the dinner. They were joined by several priests and Coadjutor Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr.

The evening included a social time, dinner, a presentation and questions and answers. It ended with the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours in the church.

The only question I have is how did Rich beat me to the punch on this one?

Review from our first Andrew Dinner

Last night, over 30 young men gathered with nine priests and Archbishop Schnurr to hear a bit about the priesthood, watch a short video on college seminary life, and ultimately to consider the question as to if God might be calling them to the priesthood.

A huge thanks to Fr. Tom Mannebach of Holy Redeemer for hosting, as well as to the other priests who brought young men from their parishes to attend, especially Fr. Frank Amberger for bringing 17 from Russia alone!

Michael Walsh has assembled a ten minute video featuring our college seminarians which is fantastic. We will post snippets here when ready.....

More Andrew Dinners are planned in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati over the next few weeks:

October 21: St. Anthony, Dayton
October 28: Our Lady of Lourdes, Westwood
November 11: St. Andrew, Milford

Info is over at Cincinnati Vocations.

What is an 'Andrew Dinner'?

In the previous thread, Kurt H asked the question: What is an Andrew Dinner?

Yes, it is named after St. Andrew, who, in the Gospel according to John, brought his brother Simon Peter to meet Jesus. It is an opportunity for priests and pastors to invite young men from their parish and/or assignments to meet with the Archbishop, to have dinner with him, and to hear a bit about the possibility of the priesthood.

This was something that Archbishop Schnurr began (to great success) in Duluth and wanted to get it going here.

Last night, we had 33 young men from the northern parts of the Archdiocese: Sidney, Piqua, Russia, New Bremen, Coldwater, Botkins, Anna, Wapak, and I know there are more; gathered to meet the Archbishop and hear a short presentation by Dan Hess on seminary life.

With our first time effort, there are certainly kinks to work out, but it was successful nonetheless. We are planning five or so across the diocese in the Fall, so we shall see what comes. As always, prayers of the faithful help more than anything!

Back from Sidney

We had our first Andrew Dinner in the Archdiocese tonight in Sidney, Ohio; 92 miles north of the Ohio River.

We were hoping for a crowd of about 20, but they were planning 50 for dinner.

Good thing!  We had 33 young men, plus 6 priests, and a few other chaperones, a seminarian and an Archbishop.

What's better, they were all good solid men, all would make good priests, if Our Lord calls them to it.  Who knows how many will get there, but they are at least contemplating it.

Pray for them!

(Now I need to figure out how to get my phone out of Archbishop's car!)