THE “house full” sign can go up at the Catholic Church’s Wagga seminary, Vianney College, where 22 young men are currently preparing for the priesthood.
The rector of Vianney College, Father Peter Thompson, said the 22 enrolments were the maximum that could be accommodated at the Boorooma college.
“We have 22 rooms, but if anyone else comes knocking on our door we will find a room for them somewhere,” Fr Thompson said.
The 22 includes five first-year seminarians.
The healthy number is a far cry from the dwindling numbers at the college just a few years ago that threw its long-term future in to doubt.
“When I took over six years ago there were only four or five (seminarians); there was obvious a question mark over the future of the seminary with those numbers, but happily it has picked up again,” Fr Thompson said.
The seminary was built for 10 seminarians when it opened on March 29, 1992.
An additional six rooms were added with the construction of MacKillop House and then a second lot of six rooms came with construction of Cassidy House.
Eleven of the seminarians at Vianney College are being trained for the Wagga Diocese, seven for Lismore, two for Armidale and one each for the Perth and Wollongong dioceses.
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