09/03/2026
Seminarians, priests and guests were all overwhelmed at an announcement at the annual seminarian fundraising dinner in Colby on July 30.
Preliminary numbers showed this particular evening’s donations added up to a record amount.
When all was tallied a few days later, the total from this year’s two seminarian fundraising dinners is $232,000.
A generous $60,000 matching gift from the Ted and Almita Augustine Estate highlighted the two-day fundraising – both in Colby and in Salina the night before.
It had been a long couple of days, and Heather Hartman got teary-eyed when she opened the last donation envelope in Colby.
It was a $2 donation from a young boy in the crowd, who had carefully written his name and amount on the donation card.
“Standing there after a long day, surrounded by stacks of envelopes, that little card reminded me what these evenings are really all about,” said Hartman, CEO of the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Salina. “It wasn’t the amount. It was a young heart wanting to help educate our future priests.”
Whether it be $2 or $60,000 – or anywhere in between – the seminarian dinners are just one example of people from all over the diocese coming together in support of vocations.
“The dinners are so well represented, the seminarians, priests, families – old, young,” said Father Adam Urban, assistant director of vocations for the diocese. “It’s a group effort, and that shows that in order to have a culture of vocations, it takes all of us. That’s very powerful.”
But as Hartman and Fr. Adam both stressed, the seminarian dinners are one of several important components of the overall support for our seminarians.
Hundreds of Catholics from across the diocese support our seminarians each year through the annual Seminarian Appeal, planned gifts, parish support and other individual gifts throughout the year.
“The dinners are really a celebration of that ongoing commitment,” Hartman said, “not the finish line.”
There are currently 15 seminarians in our diocese, and most of those were present at the dinners.
The dinners are held at four different sites, with a rotation of two each year; this year was Salina and Colby, and next year will be Manhattan and Hays.
“The dinners are really great because they allow the seminarians to get out and meet the people of the diocese,” Fr. Adam said. “It’s a very visual representation of our vocations office.”
Those evenings also give parishioners a chance to get to know the seminarians a little better.
This was just the third year for one of the dinners to be held in Colby after a tradition of being in Salina and eventually Hays. The first one was held in Colby in 2023, and Manhattan was added last year, resulting in the two-a-year rotation.
Gay Dill, a parishioner of Sacred Heart Parish in Atwood, was thrilled to attend the Colby dinner this year and to see firsthand her donations at work.
“People here in northwest Kansas are always hungry for news,” Gay said. “So when it was announced that a seminarian dinner was going to be extended to Colby, we were so grateful.”
Gay, 86, happened to be seated at a table with seminarian Adam Bates and some of his family members.
“I was the only outsider at my table,” she said with a laugh. “But they were all so easy to talk to, and I was so pleased to get to visit with Adam and to hear about all the seminarians. ”
