Conception Seminary College:  Class of 2010

Most Rev. Ricardo Ramirez, CSB of the Diocese of Las Cruces was Homilist, pictured with Fr. Dan Merz, Abbot Gregory Polan, OSB, and Fr. Samuel Russell, OSB.

Bachelor of Arts 2010

Kevin John Anstey (unable to attend)           Diocese of Davenport

Steven Michael Arisman                             Diocese of Springfield, Illinois

Christopher Michael Aubuchon                    Diocese of Jefferson City

Benjamin James Boyd                             Archdiocese of Omaha

Anton Christopher Brown (Chris)                  Diocese of Des Moines

Matthew Francis Capadano                           Archdiocese of Omaha

Cristobal Deloera Velasco                           Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Andrew Scott Dever                                    Diocese of Tulsa

Nathan Carl Eftink                  Diocese of Springfield – Cape Girardeau

Daniel Gregory Grover                                Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Michael Andrew Hansen                           Archdiocese of Omaha

Patrick M. Lester                                          Diocese of Wichita

Tuan Van Nguyen, CMC         Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix

Robert Joseph Rodgers                           Diocese of Cheyenne

Craig Alan Thomas                                    Independent

Guillermo Treviño Jr.                                    Diocese of Davenport

Alejandro Ureña                                           Diocese of Las Cruces

Philip John Voegeli Jr.                                  Diocese of Wichita

Andrew Joseph Walsh                                  Diocese of Wichita

Zachary Aaron Williams                           Independent

Jaime R. Zarse                                    Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas

Bachelor of Philosophical & Theological Studies 2010

Christopher Todd Brashears                           Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Linh Ngoc Bui                                             Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Matthew Edward Grillot                           Diocese of Davenport

Timothy Frank Ruckel                                   Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Language, Culture & Church Program 2010

Hiep Nguyen                                              Diocese of Cheyenne

Jorge Armando López                                   Diocese of Wichita

Jorge Adrian Gutierrez Guzman                  Diocese of Dallas

From April 17-19, Conception Seminary College hosted its second Encounter with God's Call weekend of the school year. The weekend is designed for men who are discerning God's call to the priesthood or religious life. This Encounter saw the highest attendance of any Conception has ever seen. 142 men from the dioceses that send seminarians to Conception arrived. The weekend consisted of communal prayer both with the student body and the monks, talks by students followed by small group discussions, and mixers/recreation time.

The talks included the vocation stories different current CSC seminarians, the challenges one might encounter when answering the call, as well as a vocation question panel which the discerning men could submit questions to. There was a Holy Hour on Sunday with Reconciliation as well. This Encounter saw the introduction of free t-shirts for the attendees as well as a change of venue for the recreation time. Normally held in the Alumni Union, it was moved on the first night to St. Michael's Hall/gym to accommodate the larger crowd. The weekend ran very smoothly thanks to help of numerous seminarians who all stepped up to help out the group which was larger than the seminary population itself. The next Encounter will be in the Fall of 2010.

Smoke and miters: CSC Seminarians perform their remake of Michael Jackson's Thriller, turning it into a vocational promotion piece, Thrill of the Call.

Here the winning group poses for a photo...possibly future album art??? Photos by Geoff Brooke

Friday, March 13 saw the return of one of the biggest student events at Conception Seminary College: Coffee Shop. Coffee Shop is put together by the Fine Arts Committee and involves students performing skits, songs, dances, etc. while the audience enjoys coffee, teas, hot chocolate and snacks. The event is held in St. Michael's gym and is attended by all of the students, several faculty members, family members, and monks. This year Coffee Shop coincided with the Board of Regents and so even a few of the Regents were in attendance.

The roughly two and a half hour show included students playing bluegrass music, barbershop quartets, original songs, original poetry, mariachi music, original sketches, and popular songs as well. The winning act was a group of six students dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller with a Catholic twist entitled "The Thrill of the Call". The students dressed as members of different religious orders and added some original choreography and an original intro voice-over.

March 1st, 2010 was Pastor's Day at Conception Seminary. Seminarians invited their respective pastors to join them for the day or for a few days at Conception. Many pastors from the different dioceses that Conception serves arrived, some on Sunday, the 28th of February and many more on Monday.

The pastors who had arrived by 11:45am on Monday con-celebrated daily Mass in the basilica. At 5:15pm the pastors and their seminarians attended Vespers with the monks followed by a banquet in the student dining room. The Conception Mariachi band played a few songs as the pastors and students filed into the dining room.

After the banquet there was a concert in St. Michael's gym at 8pm. The concert, entitled "Windfire" was given by Mr. and Mrs. John Kasica who played several songs using different flutes and percussion instruments. A brief reception followed the conclusion of the concert. Many pastors stayed overnight and con-celebrated daily Mass in the student oratory Tuesday morning.