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Sponsor a Seminarian

Supporting Our Future Priests
Pope Benedict said that a seminary is “more than a place, it is a significant time in the life of a follower of Jesus.” In addition to serving the poor, St. Vincent de Paul was dedicated to developing programs to improve the training of future priests and offered assistance to those already ordained. We invite your partnership to help provide formation and education of our future priests. The cost to educate a seminarian includes room and board, tuition, fees, books and supplies. Internships and retreats are also significant components of a seminarian’s education. There are currently more than 40 seminarians. Here are brief stories about two of them.

Sponsor a Future Vincentian Priest or Brother

The Kenya Mission began in 1981, but took a turn in 1999 when the Province opened DePaul Center Formation House to form future Vincentian priests and brothers.

DePaul Center Formation House is currently home to 44 seminarians.
Nine East Africans have been ordained Vincentian priests.

As we grow, your help is needed even more. We need your partnership. You will receive updates and messages from our seminarians throughout the year.

The cost to educate a seminarian includes:

Room and board, food and medical assistance.
Tuition and fees, books and supplies.
Internships, retreats, and transportation to pastoral sites.
With a gift/pledge of $3,130 you can sponsor a future Vincentian in Kenya.
A gift/pledge of $1,500 will pay for the tuition of a future Vincentian for a full year.
A $975 gift/pledge will cover retreats, books, and internship travel costs.

Your gift will:

Touch the lives of the poor in Kenya who are served by these Vincentians through their pastoral ministry.
Give you personal satisfaction of knowing you helped to educate a Vincentian.

Thank you for your support in evangelizing the poor in the spirit and after the manner of St. Vincent de Paul.

Meet Toshio Sato, C.M.
Born and raised in Fukushima, Japan, Toshio Sato, C.M. earned his undergraduate degree in international economics and dreamed of a successful career in business. However, Toshio felt called to move “in a very unexpected direction” while working at a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Japanese Consulate in Chicago. Today, Toshio is a third-year theology student at Saint John’s Seminary in California. “I would like to live my life to serve the poor, our master, and to be evangelized by them as St. Vincent did, follow Jesus as our model.”

Meet Raphel Njagi Gakinya, C.M.
Raphael comes from a fairly typical sized family in Africa of ten siblings. His eldest brother is a Jesuit priest. Raphael came to DePaul Centre in 2004 ready to begin the six-month long Initiate phase of the formation program. He then began his philosophical studies at the Consolata Institute of Philosophy. Three years later, at the Associate level of formation, he gained his diploma from the institute. In 2007, he entered the novitiate program at Damascus House and one year later made Good Purposes. As an Admitted student of the Congregation he mainly spends his time in theological studies. He is currently a second year student at Tangaza College. Raphael also visits the small Christian community in Mukura kwa Jenga for the Sunday pastoral program. As an introspective and insightful young man, he has much to offer the Vincentians in the Kenya Mission. He received Candidacy for Holy Orders on February 18, 2009.

“In the kingdom of Charity, we should rather suffer some inconvenience ourselves, than inconvenience our neighbor.”