After several years without vocations, and with three new applicants, he reopened the Conception Seminar (Chile) in the pro -theoist stage, that is, of discernment and initial training.
The opening mass took place in the parish El Sagrario and was chaired by the archbishop of Concepción, Mons. Sergio Pérez de Arce, who considered this step as “a symbolic, but very real event.”
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In this regard, he clarified: “Symbolic, because it means the beginning of a formative process in our seminar, even in the propedical stage. After several years without income, we see this step with hope, trusting that younger can integrate into the future. “
Mons. Pérez de Arce mentioned the challenge of generating spaces for vocational discernment. In recent years, he said, very few seminarians have entered throughout Chile.
Therefore, he considered that the challenge is not that there are many, but “that young people can consider this vocation seriously, accompanied in their discernment.”
“It is essential to strengthen work with young people and offer them spiritual and training experiences where they can open up to the Gospel,” he said.
There are three young people who inaugurate the propedical house in this 2025: Alexis Oyarce, 23; Francisco Gallardo, 26; and José Miguel Reyes, 30 years old.
The youngest in the group explained that although he always had “the restlessness in the heart”, before entering the seminar he lived the experience of the university, studying architecture. “Last year I resumed the vocational days in my diocese and, with the accompaniment of my pastor and the vocational team, I discerned that it was time to open myself to the grace of God,” he explained.
Gallardo, meanwhile, is a sociologist and student of a master’s degree in social research. The need for priests questioned him in his discernment: “The restlessness returned strongly when my career was ending, and I was moved to see that the people of God are sometimes without a shepherd,” he admitted.
“I decided to talk to my pastor, start the process and here I am, willing to continue deepening my path of faith,” he said.
The greatest of the new applicants, José Miguel Reyes, worked as a sacristan and auditor accountant before deciding on the way to the priesthood. “Since childhood I felt that call, but it was a long process, with many ups and downs,” he acknowledged.
“Two years ago I started my discernment on the vocational day and today I am here, taking this step with faith and confidence in the Lord,” he said.
Julieta Villar
I am a journalist, a graduate in Communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non -governmental organizations. Since 2016 I dedicate myself to Catholic journalism, first in the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as a correspondent for ACI Press for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.