St. Nersess Seminary Presentation to Delegates

Fr. Daniel Findikyan spoke to the delegates about St. Nersess Seminary and its recruitment efforts. The Seminary trains men who are candidates for the priesthood, as well as men and women who are preparing to serve the church as lay ministers.

“The harvest is plentiful but the labors are few,” Fr. Findikyan said quoting the Bible in describing the Seminary’s efforts. “We’ve had seasons where we’ve been blessed with many students. I must confess with pain in my heart we will have many students this fall, but no new students. We had several who were interested, but due to family reasons will not be joining us this fall.”

The Primate seconded that aspect.

"I want to see each one of you get involved," he said.

He said he often wonders if the founders of St. Nersess knew what they were creating.

“In the United States to establish and operate a private school is an operation of frightening proportions. How much more so when that private school is a seminary belonging to a tiny ethnic minority,” he said. “We should never expect in this increasingly secular society, a society that has proven itself extremely effective in dividing individuals from their ethnicity. But we accept that challenge.”

Fr. Findikyan also spoke about the step taken by the Board of the Seminary in hiring a clergyman, Fr. Stepanos Doudoukjian, to work full-time with youth to cultivate future seminarians.

“But the goal of attracting students to the seminary cannot be the work of one man. It must be the work of all of us together; beginning with our Diocesan Council, moving to our clergy, you delegates, deacons, choir members, Sunday School and Armenian School teachers, camp counselors, all of us. If we are going to succeed in this effort, we will succeed together,” he said.

In his remarks to the delegates, Fr. Doudoukjian said to recruit students is an on-going process that nurtures an individual and encourages him or her to attend the seminary.

“You are just as important in cultivating and nurturing young men to come forward and be a priest,” he told the delegates.

Delegates were asked to take time to think about the priesthood and identify rewards they see in being a priest.

“Obviously the vocation to the priesthood is a unique one. The question arises then in developing a recruitment strategy, who are we looking for? What are the qualities in a future priest we need to have? Those are questions we have to address,” Fr. Findikyan said, as he encouraged delegates to identify such qualities.

Delegates identified qualities such as articulate, passion for Christ, humility, availability to people, understanding the needs of the flock, teacher, listeners, sincerity, integrity, and motivator.

“We are looking for individuals with a massive skill set. We are looking for not just common folk that have a willingness. These qualities represent remarkable individuals in our community we need to find,” he said. “And I don’t know how many of them are out there. And I doubt even current priests have half those qualities. But we’re looking for a really wide skill set.”

Fr. Findikyan then asked delegates how individuals can best identify young people with those qualities and who show the ability to acquire those qualities they currently lack. For example, he said when you see a teenage boy who is interested in church he might have the passion to serve further, weather he knows he has that passion or not.

“We’d like to know in what ways you can nurture and support a young man in his calling to the priesthood. And once we’ve identified these students in what way can St. Nersess help all of you, how can we help cultivate and support prospective seminarians in your parish,” Fr. Doudoukjian said, as he told delegates they would be contacted in the coming months by seminary staff and board members.

Outlining the need for priests in several parishes, Fr. Haigazoun Najarian told delegates it was up to them to create new priests.

"Where are our priests coming from? Where are they coming from if not from your families? You have to give the first example. You have to direct your own children to church. You have to look up to your clergy so your children will one day think about being clergy," he said.

St. Nersess welcomes students after they have completed a four-year degree in any field. The course of studies at St. Nersess is a four-year master of divinity program, with expanded offerings for language, music, and other requirements unique to the Armenian Church. This is normally followed by a period of study in one of the Armenian Church hierarchical centers abroad, most normally the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. That is followed by a mentorship under a priest working in the Diocese, allowing them to master some of the skills that cannot be taught in a classroom.

“We’ve had successful people in other walks of life come up to me and say ‘If only someone had come up to give me a little bit of a push, I would have been a priest today.’ But it may be too late for them to begin that path now,” Fr. Findikyan said. “This is the most painful and perhaps the most easily solvable impediment. Your actions as lay leaders in the church are being watched closely by young people and they are assessing their vocation based on your actions.”

Posted by Jake at May 3, 2007 05:22 PM