The Diocese of Spokane enters the 2025-2026 formation year with a net increase of four seminarians compared to this time in 2024, bringing the total number of men in Spokane’s initial priestly formation program to 19. At the same time, Bishop White Seminary (BWS) located in Spokane, Wash. has grown by two seminarians for a total of 18. The reasons for the discrepancy between seminarians associated with the Diocese of Spokane and those enrolled at BWS are that not all seminarians for Spokane receive their formation at BWS, and Bishop White Seminary helps form seminarians from dioceses other than Spokane.
Six men entered Spokane’s initial priestly formation program. All new seminarians must begin their seminary journey in a propaedeutic program, which helps men establish a solid foundation in their human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation. (For more information on the stages and dimensions of priestly formation, click here and here, respectively.) Four new Spokane seminarians are enrolled in the Cor Christi Propaedeutic Program of Bishop White Seminary. The Diocese of Spokane relies on Bishop White Seminary for the formation of college-aged men who do not have a college degree. Notably, of the four Spokane Cor Christi seminarians, three of them are members of the 2025 graduating class of the Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame, a Catholic classical high school in Spokane. Two of Spokane’s newest seminarians already have college degrees, so they have been sent to other seminaries with formation programs more suited to their education level. One man is in the propaedeutic program at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, and the other is at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif.
This year’s 19 Spokane seminarians are spread across four different seminaries and a pastoral year assignment in the diocese.
- Nine at Bishop White Seminary (including the four new men in Cor Christi)
- Four at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif. (including one new man)
- Three at St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisc.
- Two at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon (including one new man)
- One on a pastoral year assignment.
Seminarians from the Diocese of Spokane represent half of the men in formation at Bishop White Seminary. The remainder come from three other dioceses.
- Two from the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
- Five from the Diocese of Orange (California)
- Two from the Diocese of Baker (Oregon)