Nearly $600,000 raised for seminarians

Published: October 2, 2023

"Truly, your generosity has been incredible!" — Father Jeff Hebert, vocations director

The 2023 Taste of Faith dinner was held Saturday, Aug. 5 at the Statehouse House Convention Center in Little Rock to help pay for seminarian education in the Diocese of Little Rock. In addition to the meal, attendees were introduced to the eight new seminarians this year, musical entertainment, testimonials from seminarians Joel Brackett of Rogers and Duwan Booker of Conway and much more.

The video, "St. Edward Church in Texarkana" premiered during the dinner and featured Father William Burmester, pastor, and several parishioners discussing parish life, outreach and the priesthood. This event, including the video, was also livestreamed for those unable to attend in person. It is available to watch anytime on the diocesan YouTube channel.

Taste of Faith raised $542,630.09 this year. With the $51,611 raised by the Knights of Columbus during a similar event at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Hot Springs Village in July, a total of $594,241.09 was raised for seminarian education this summer.

Father Jeff Hebert, vocations director, thanked parishioners for their generosity in supporting the needs of seminarians in the past with an appeal to donate again this year in a letter he mailed to Catholic households in July.

"They want to be priests so that it’s a little easier for you to follow Christ. They want to be priests so that Christ can continue to feed you with his body and blood. The past several years have shown me that you want that too, and the people of our diocese go above and beyond to help these young men get there," he wrote.

Donations are welcome any time online. For more information, email Dianne Brady, director of stewardship and development, or call her (501) 664-0340, ext. 391.