Fr. Wehner looking forward to assuming rector’s role at NDS

Father James Wehner, who will assume his new role as rector-president of Notre Dame Seminary on July 1, flew to New Orleans March 29 to meet with Archbishop Gregory Aymond, faculty members and seminarians. Father Wehner currently is the rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. During his last visit to New Orleans, a seminarian drove him back to the airport and said, “Father, things are rocking at NDS.” Addressing the seminarians at lunch, Father Wehner said, “You have a very cherished title – seminarian. We see in you the whole theological virtue of hope unfolding. …To those of you who are called to the priesthood, the whole church becomes renewed with every ordination.” Father Wehner thanked the former rector, Father José Lavastida, and praised the faculty already in place at the seminary and then directed his remarks to seminarians. “I look forward to loving you, serving you and bringing joy to you with the gifts and weaknesses that I have. Let us pray for one another.” Father Wehner, a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, said he had “one significant detriment – I’m a Steelers fan. But, I am open to conversion.”