May 21st & May 22nd
We invite you to watch a short video (created by our Pastoral Year Seminarians!) that shows seminary life and explains the financial funding sources.
Why are we doing a special collection for Seminarians – doesn’t the Annual Pastoral Appeal pay for that?
There is good news and bad news. The bad news is that the Annual Pastoral Appeal (APA) has never quite been enough to cover all the expenses of the 24 seminarians. The good news is that there was a generous donation that set up a Seminarian Burse Fund to supplement the shortfall in APA donations. The even better news is that we now have 30 seminarians in studies, which means the Burse Fund will be depleted in two years as the extra costs are covered.
How much does seminarian formation and education cost?
For the past few years, approximately $1.8 million has been spent on seminarian education and formation each year. That breaks down to about $60,000 per seminarian per year. The cost per seminarian covers the following:
– Tuition
– Books and educational resources
– Living expenses (board and housing)
– Health insurance
– Automobile insurance
– Assessment for maintenance of the seminary buildings
How is the $1.8 million of expenses covered?
We, the faithful of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, have the responsibility to fund the formation and education of our future priests. Your donations to APA are the principal means for covering the expenses.
- Annual Pastoral Appeal: $1.48 million per year is allocated to seminarian formation.
- Seminarian Burse Fund: This fund is comprised of restricted donations and directed resources to be used for seminarian formation and education, and it makes up the difference. As mentioned above, within the next two years, the Burse fund will be depleted.
Weren’t the seminarians included in the Forward in Faith Campaign?
Forward in Faith included $3 million for the renovation of the St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary campus and $2 million to be placed into a fund intended to generate interest income for the seminary’s ongoing maintenance. These two projects have been fully funded from the Forward in Faith Campaign donations to date. A portion of the campaign for the seminarians was not funded as the whole campaign fell short.
What will happen to the funds collected in this Special Collection?
Through this special collection, we are trying to raise the monies needed to increase the Seminarian Burse Fund and provide funds to cover the gap between what is raised/budgeted with APA dollars and what the full cost of seminarian education and formation is each year until our new interest-bearing accounts yield consistent funding, reducing the cost per seminarian.
Does this mean we will have a collection every year?
It depends. The goal is to rebuild up the capital in the Burse Fund, so that if there is a shortfall in needed funds from APA, the accrued interest in the Burse Fund can make up the difference. We might need to have this collection for several years to reach that goal. But this is a wonderful problem to have. It means we have vocations!
When will Sacred Heart take up this collection?
Sacred Heart will have a special collection on the weekend of May 21st and 22nd. There will be envelopes provided in the pews the weekend before as well as the special collection weekend.
