Seminarian Trip for St. John Vianney Featured in “Denver Catholic”

St. John Vianney seminarians spent weeks in the wilderness following their propaedeutic year. The Mass was key to their time in the wilderness.

A recent piece in Denver Catholic, the official diocesan paper of the Archdiocese of Denver, recounts the recently-completed, multi-week backpacking trip undertaken by seminarians from St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver. Organized by the Archdiocese’s Office of Vocations and COR Expeditions at the culmination of the propaedeutic year, and “aimed to bring the men closer together in community and devotion to the Lord Jesus amid the challenges of wilderness expedition,”

The piece, from Denver Catholic’s André Escaleira, Jr., is entitled Challenge and brotherhood: First-year Denver seminarians foster fraternity in the mountains. COR missionary Damien Walz says of the program: “What I tell the formation directors and seminarians is that this isn’t a backpacking fairy tale. This is real life and as real as it gets. It is a place where we can delve into who we are as sons of God and live as sons of God in an authentic and masculine way.”

Cooper Eitel, one of the seminarian backpackers, says that “this experience of challenge and brotherhood, encapsulated by the incredible beauty of the Wind River Range, brought us closer than anything else throughout the year. I think our class is going to have a uniquely special and lasting bond that will endure to ordination and beyond because of this experience.”