Diocesan Student
Mark Twain once said “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
Selection Conference
Once you have spent time with the vocations director and discerned together that you are to officially apply to train to be a priest in the diocese then you will be asked to submit references and other relevant documents. Usually around early April you will attend a selection conference where you will be interviewed by both priests and lay people. This is usually over the period of a weekend. You will then be interviewed by the Bishop of our diocese and the Vicar General. The Bishop will then make a decision as to whether you enter into formation in one of our seminaries.
Seminary formation
Seminary formation usually lasts for five years unless you are an older man and the Bishop decides that you can have a shorter formation period (usually three years). Also if you have studied Theology or Philosophy before then that study will be taken into consideration.
In the seminary you will receive the academic formation you need to preach and teach the faith. There are also pastoral placements in parishes, schools, prisons and hospitals throughout your time in the seminary.
After periods of discernment you will receive the minor orders of reader, acolyte and candidacy which will mean you are an official candidate for ordination. After candidacy you will be ordained a deacon and then to the priesthood.
In the first instance please contact Fr Adrian Lowe, Vocations Director
Vocations Stories
A Day in the Life of a Seminarian
Saint of the Day
- Blessed Pope Urban V
Blessed Pope Urban V Feast date: Dec 19 Blessed Pope Urban V was born Guillaume de Grimoard at Grisac in Languedoc, 1310. He studied canon law and theology in Avignon and became a Benedictine monk. He was named abbot of his monastery in 1352, and served as a papal diplomat and was eventually sent as an ambassodor to various locations. He also served as […]
- Dec. 19 December 19, O Root of Jesse (O Radix Jesse); Ember Friday, Weekday
Today is the Third of the O Antiphons, O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse). Christ the King, the Lord! Divine Wisdom, Adonai, the powerful God, is at the same time man with flesh and blood of the house of Jesse, the father of King David. Truly, the right of kingship has now passed from the house of David. The glory that once clothed the royal family has faded and withered, leaving only a blighted and […]