Anyone who thinks Catholic clergy are stuffy hasn't been to A Taste of Faith, the annual event hosted by the Diocese of Little Rock to raise money for and awareness of men studying for the priesthood.
The jokes flowed freely at the sixth annual event, a reception and dinner held Aug. 8 in the ballroom of the Marriott Hotel Little Rock. An 18-member seminarian band donned sunglasses and channeled the Blues Brothers for some musical entertainment. And there was that video -- the one showing seminarians, priests and even diocese Bishop Anthony Taylor dancing to the refrain of the pop hit "Party Rock Anthem."
But program presenters got down to serious business, too. For the 130,000 Catholics in the state, there are only 75 priests, and it costs an average of $32,000 a year to educate one seminarian. The stakes are high.
Parents and other relatives of the seminarians turned out in full force, and it was easy to see, as they were introduced, that the 44 future priests are part of a village -- the kind that considers each child the village's child. Remarks included those of seminarian and deacon Joseph Chan, who gave a testimony of being healed from a devastating car accident, and deacon Mario Jacobo, who shared his experience of "having to learn to listen to the Lord" as he was called to study for the priesthood.
Monsignor Scott Friend, vocational director and vicar general, spoke at length about the seminary experience. He shared the good news that Little Rock, which had averaged less than two ordinations per year, would be seeing six ordinations next year and that the average age of priests in Arkansas will drop to 48. Friend also made a bold pitch for on-the-spot donations for seminarian support. He joked that making a generous gift at Taste of Faith might give the donor an edge at the gate of St. Peter if the number of good deeds done in life are a bit lacking -- "That just might be the thing that tips the scales."
The event grossed $234,000, according to Dianne Brady with the diocese.
High Profile on 08/16/2015