By Christina Leslie | Staff Writer

Though instant communications via email, Facebook post or cellphone text might arrive more quickly, nothing beats a handwritten letter to deliver a message of support or encouragement. The Seminarian Letter Project, a program uniting forces of the Knights of Columbus councils and Catholic school children continues to prove that, sometimes, “snail mail” is the best way to a man’s heart.

The Seminarian Letter Project, instituted in 2000 by the N.J. State Council Knights of Columbus, encourages students in Catholic schools and parish religious education programs to send letters and cards to men studying for the priesthood.

John Tirado of the St. Jude Council, Knights of Columbus, Blackwood, designed the project to both nurture vocations and staunch the declining numbers of men aspiring to the priesthood in his home diocese of Camden.

The project proved so successful that Knights of Columbus councils statewide have adopted the practice. Thousands of inspirational, heartfelt and often humorous letters and cards have found their way to men studying in seminaries all over the country during the project’s 14-year history.

Local Knights of Columbus member Mark Fontes of the Lawrence Council is a strong proponent of the project. His council, based in St. Ann Parish, sent out about 250 letters penned (and crayoned) by the school’s third, fourth and fifth grade students as well as children from the parish religious education program.

“We do it mostly because of the seminarians’ vow of poverty,” Fontes declared. “The seminarians have to give up so much … so it’s nice to reach out to them in this way. For the kids, it gives them a sense of how much of a sacrifice it is.”

K of C Grand Knight Kenneth Rhodes of the Trenton Council reinstituted the project when he took office last year. ”It’s an honorable program,” he noted, explaining he had partnered with Trenton Catholic Academy Lower School personnel to enlist the school’s students as letter writers.

The children in the Hamilton township school sent cards at Christmas and Easter and wrote letters of encouragement to those in seminaries and in their pastoral assignments. Rhodes reported, “Not only did the 32 seminarians receive five cards each, but they also received letters from me and my council.”

“The seminarians are the future of Catholicism,” Rhodes continued, “and the teachers to the lambs. The children are the future of Catholicism in general. The seminarians are much needed; we should do anything we can do to lift their spirits.”

One grateful letter recipient was seminarian Gregg Abadilla, who received letters and cards while serving a pastoral year assignment in St. Alphonsus Parish, Hopewell. “The cards were personalized with drawings, colorful crayon ones, and words of encouragement like ‘you can make it’ and ‘thank you,’” Abadilla remembered, chuckling. “They gave me inspiration.”