Language is important part of studies for seminarians

By Julie Keane, Globe staff reporter
January 15, 2004

Seminarians in the Sioux City Diocese are actively incorporating different languages into their studies in hopes of helping themselves and members of their parishes once they have been ordained.

"It is important that we are bilingual so we can minister to the non-English speaking people and they need us to hear confessions and have different sacraments," John Sandy, a seminarian, who is studying at the University of St. Thomas said. "I also think Latin is important because we are Latin rite priests. We need to know Latin when dealing with documents and certain Scripture."

Sandy is a member of St. Mary's Parish in Spirit Lake has taken classes in Latin, and hopes to study Greek and Spanish as well. He also plans to learn Italian during the semester he will be studying in Rome. Sandy stated that the Spanish language is very important because of the rising Hispanic population in the diocese.

Seminarian, Brent Lingle who is a member of Sacred Heart Parish in Sioux City also has been studying Spanish and also sees the need for more bilingual priests to cater to the Hispanic population.

"There are 25,000 Hispanics in the Sioux City Diocese and not many priests that can minister to them," said Lingle, who is currently attending Saint Meinrad School of Theology. "The more that we can do and meet them in their own languages makes a great difference."

Lingle said that as a seminarian, studying the Spanish language is important also because other denominations are reaching out to the Hispanic community, which makes it all the more important for Catholic priests to be able to communicate with Hispanics and bring them the Gospel in their own language.

Andrew-Bao Vo, who is a member of Cathedral of the Epiphany, said he understood the difficulty of learning a second language and hopes his knowledge of the Vietnamese and English languages will help his parish members.

"Vietnamese is my first language and English is my second language," said Vo, who is studying at Saint Meinrad School of Theology. "I know how tough it is to learn another language and in the future I will be able to help those speaking English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

"Knowing other languages is a good way to communicate with others and get to know one another."

Nick Donohue, who is studying at the University of St. Thomas, said that he also believes that Latin is important because it is the language of the church.

"Many of the prayers are still said in Latin," Donohue said. " Greek and Latin were the languages of the church and of western civilization. There are so many important documents that were written in these two languages and full meaning can be known by reading them in their original language. That is why we study Greek so intensely, because the New Testament was written in Greek."

Donohue, who is a member of St. Mary's in Spirit Lake also said that studying the Latin language has only aided him with his English and has given him confidence to study other languages, which he plans to do next summer when he studies Greek.

"Practically speaking, Latin has helped my English tremendously," Donohue said. "The complexity of the language, is overwhelming at first, but once you learn you have the feeling that since I have learned this language I can learn any language. It's a good base to learn other languages."