At a Mass celebrated at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria on July 31, six men were accepted as seminarians for the Diocese of Peoria. Coadjutor Bishop Louis Tylka presided at the Rite of Reception, which came at the end of the annual St. Joseph Days retreat.

The new seminarians pictured above and where they will continue to discern the priesthood are (from left) JP Stedwill of St. Jude, Peoria; Jacob Hopper of Holy Family, Peoria; Tommy Williams of St. Aloysius, Wataga; Blake Miller of Holy Trinity, Bloomington; Patrick Dineen of St. Patrick Church of Merna, Bloomington; and Patrick Wille of St. Philomena, Peoria.

Stedwill, Hopper, Miller and Dineen will attend Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, for their first year of pre-theology studies, and Wille will be in his second year of theology. Williams is beginning his studies at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, Minnesota.

Photo provided by Daryl Wilson.