Dear Friends,
While being the rector of a seminary is a challenging assignment at times, it is one in which gratitude comes easily. As the Church celebrates the Jubilee Year of 2025, I am deeply thankful for the incredible generosity of those who support us in our mission of forming priests, deacons and lay leaders who are on fire with the Holy Spirit. These men and women daily live out the Gospel and serve the Body of Christ.
I am also grateful when I see the many ways our alumni faithfully live out their vocations. What a gift! These are the kind of leaders that we all hope for in our local parishes and apostolates.
It is also easy to be thankful when I look back on the blessings of the previous academic year. We had 100 seminarians in formation with us, celebrated the ordinations of 17 new priests and 18 new permanent deacons, and enrolled over 100 lay students in our degree programs. And this year, when looking at these signature programs along with our ongoing clergy formation programs and our Catechetical Institute, over 1,000 seminarians, priests, deacons and lay leaders are currently in formation with us at the Saint Paul Seminary. They are eager to go out and serve in your parishes, families and communities, and they will touch innumerable souls in the course of their ministry.
“As the Church celebrates the Jubilee Year of 2025, I am deeply thankful for the incredible generosity of those who support us in our mission of forming priests, deacons and lay leaders who are on fire with the Holy Spirit. These men and women daily live out the Gospel and serve the Body of Christ.” — Fr. Joseph Taphorn, Saint Paul Seminary rector
And finally, it is easy to be grateful for our friends and benefactors who have generously supported us in these efforts. Our 2023-24 annual report shows us to be an institution that is fiscally sound and responsible – thanks in large part to your ongoing generosity (see pages 7-12). We continue to financially position ourselves to take on important and much needed capital improvements, including investments in our physical infrastructure and deferred maintenance projects, so we can advance our mission of forming the next generation of joyful, Catholic leaders.
As our patron, Saint Paul, writes in second Corinthians, “I am filled with encouragement; I am overflowing with joy” (7:4). Each of these pieces of gratitude are a blessing from God, which inspire hope in the future of our Church. Many thanks to each of you for your support and prayers and for standing with us in our mission.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Reverend Joseph C. Taphorn,
JCL Rector and Vice President