2nd Catholic Seminary Will Open in Lithuania in Face of Priest Shortage
A second Roman Catholic seminary will be opening this fall in Soviet-occupied Lithuania, according to the New York-based Lithuanian Information Center.
Father Petras Kimbrys, one of the editors of Catholic World, told Vatican Radio that the seminary at Telsiai, Lithuania, is being re-established after more than four decades, with the blessing of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Lithuania.
Telsiai was the site of one of four Catholic seminaries in pre-World War II Lithuania. It was forced to close in 1946.
Kimbrys said the decision to reopen the seminary comes at a time when the region is facing a critical shortage of clergy. Some 70 parishes, nearly half the total of the region, are without priests, he said.
Kimbrys reported that 30 young men have already applied for admission to the seminary.
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