SEMINARIAN EDUCATION FUNDRAISER SHOOTING FOR $300,000

This spring there will be several events that put the spotlight on the Diocese of Nashville’s seminarians.

On April 16, six seminarians – Patrick Held, Augustine Mang, Nonso Ohanaka, Anthony Romeo, Oscar Romero and Brent Thayer – advanced to Candidacy, publicly expressing their intention to be ordained later as a transitional deacon and a priest.

On Saturday, May 25, five transitional deacons – Rhodes Bolster, Edwuin Cardona, Hung Pham, Mark Simpson and Luke Wilgenbusch – will be ordained as priests.

And on Tuesday, May 21, the Serra Clubs of Williamson County and Nashville and the Knights of Columbus, both of which support vocations to the priesthood, will present the 10th annual Seminarian Education Dinner and Auction to raise funds to help pay for the cost of educating the diocese’s 26 seminarians.

“I am thankful for the time the seminarians get to spend with you, the faithful, and for your dedication to assisting in forming strong leaders for the future of our diocese,” Bishop J. Mark Spalding wrote in a letter to supporters of the Seminarian Education Dinner and Auction.

“We have been blessed with so many ordinations to the priesthood in the past few years,” Bishop Spalding wrote. “Your support has made this possible. … As we come together to support the formation of our seminarians, I want to express to you my profound gratitude.”

In its 10 years, the Seminarian Education Dinner and Auction has grown tremendously and has become an important piece in providing the funding for the education of the diocese’s seminarians.

“We started the auction about 10 years ago, and at our first one raised $6,000,” said Don Stacy, president of the Serra Club of Williamson County and the chair of the organizing committee for the Dinner and Auction this year. “Last year we raised over $300,000 and our goal this year is to raise $300,000.”

Lloyd Crockett, a former president of Serra International, and his wife Elizabeth helped organize the first Seminarian Education Dinner and Auction.

“In the beginning I had a lot of help, with a group of seven of us going to (then) Bishop (David) Choby and asking him for some marching orders to get started,” Crockett said.

Organizers raised “$6,000 the first year just by the seat of our pants,” said Crockett.

A stunning success story followed with the initial $6,000 becoming $12,000 the next year, then $62,000 in the event’s third year, and last year a record $320,000.

The Crocketts also have donated a week at their beachfront house for the live auction.

“This is our fourth year of offering it, and we’ve had no problems,” said Crockett. “In fact, our neighbors are the family of a current priest, Father Philip Halladay,” pastor of St. Pius X Church in Nashville.

The Seminarian Education Dinner and Auction will return to Holy Family Church in Brentwood this year after being held at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Hendersonville last year.

The venue at Holy Family Church, said Stacy, “has room for 600 people, with tickets going for $100 per individual, and we’ve seen parishes often buying a table for eight or 10 people,” said Stacy.

Stacy expects the Dinner and Auction will sell out two weeks before the event.

The highlight of the evening every year has been the silent and live auctions. Some of the most popular items have included: a week’s stay at either of two beachfront homes in Gulf Shores, Alabama; dinners cooked and served by some of the diocese’s priests, including Father Gervan Meneses, Associate Pastor of St. Philip Church in Franklin and a former restaurant manager in his native Brazil; and items involving the Nashville Predators hockey team, who have been in the midst of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at the time of the auction the last two years.

Bob Kohl, a parishioner at Our Lady of the Lake, is Senior Director of Broadcasting and Entertainment for the Predators and has helped arrange the donation of several auction items.

The “goodies” have included, said Kohl, “a fiddle from the Charlie Daniels Band, a night at the Omni Hotel, and game night seat in the booth with our broadcasters. …

“Sitting in the booth was extremely popular, so much so that we are offering it again,” Kohl said.

In previous years, a hockey stick signed by all the Predators fetched up to $3,000, and another one will be auctioned off this year, he said.

Other auction items will include various works of art, golf course gift packages that include dinner, a golf cart and one round of golf for four people.

Organizers hope to establish a website so interested people can check out all the auction items online at https://futurepriestbenefit.weebly.com/.

Once again, the Catholic Extension Society is offering a matching grant for donations up to $40,000 to aid seminarian education in the diocese, said Ashley Linville, diocesan director of development.

Sponsorships are also a key element in the success of the Dinner and Auction, “helping us raise about a third of our money through their participation,” said Bob Rudman, a member of the Serra Club of Williamson County, a member of the board for Serra International, and a former chairman of the Dinner and Auction organizing committee.

The Presenting Sponsor for this year’s Dinner and Auction is Diocesan Properties/Marina Manor East.

Other sponsors include: Platinum Sponsors, Mary, Queen of Angels Assisted Living Facility and Villa Maria Manor; Gold Sponsors, Catholic Community Investment and Loan, St. Henry Property Development, Wood Personnel Services; Silver Sponsor, Taylor Pigue Marchetti and Blair, LLC; and Support Sponsors, Father Ryan High School and Pope John Paul II High School.

All of the proceeds from the Dinner and Auction help pay for the education of the diocese’s 26 seminarians, which costs more than $1.1 million a year. Another large portion of that cost is paid for with funds raised through the Bishop’s Annual Appeal for Ministries, which is ongoing. People interested in donating to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal can find more information on the diocesan website: www.dioceseofnashville.com.

This is Stacy’s first year as the chair of the organizing committee for the Dinner and Auction. “I feel this event – we prefer to call it a ministry – is very rewarding because it ultimately attracts young people to the religious life,” said Stacy.

More information about the Dinner and Auction, sponsorships, buying tickets or making a donation for the matching grant is available at www.dioceseofnashville.com/seminarian-education-dinner-and-auction. People also can call or email diocesan Director of Development Ashley Linville at 615-645-9768 or ashley.linville@dioceseofnashville.com, or Assistant Director of Development Anna Beth Godfrey at 615-645-9769 or annabeth.godfrey@dioceseofnashville.com.