To Serve Christ And One Another In Love

Thanks to you and the gifts you give to the Diocesan Appeal, the Office of Vocations, under the direction of the Very Reverend Anthony Ligato, offers opportunities and programs for education and discernment to help potential candidates for the priesthood and consecrated life determine if God is indeed calling them.

Parish and school based vocations formation programs throughout the Diocese of Albany, help to educate our youth and adults in all the ways we can live out God’s call in our lives and help support men and women who are discerning a vocation to the priesthood, religious life and diaconate.

These efforts, thanks be to God, are showing results. Priestly vocations in our diocese have risen dramatically, and today, there are 111 men in various stages of discernment. Currently, there are 32 men officially in formation, with 21 in seminary and 11 as aspirants.

While this is indeed very good news, the increase in seminarians presents significant financial challenges to meet the rising costs of preparing for the priesthood. The average cost of one year of tuition, room, board and expenses for a seminarian is approximately $50,000. That cost is borne by the diocese. The road to ordination takes, on average, six years. Your gifts to the Diocesan Appeal help to defray those costs.

The New St. Isaac Jogues House of Formation and Pre-Seminary

On January 4, 2019, thanks to funding from the Diocesan Appeal, the new St. Isaac Jogues House of Formation and Pre-Seminary opened at the former Cathedral Convent at 93 Park Avenue in Albany to replace the old House of Discernment in Watervliet which could accommodate only seven men in residence. The new House of Formation and Pre-Seminary can accommodate up to 20 men in residence, and provides a beautiful chapel with a capacity for 40 people. The new House of Formation will facilitate greater and more expanded formation and discernment programs as well as a new academic program in partnership with St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, which also receives funding from the Diocesan Appeal.