By Colin Davis

Orientation covers five days before the opening of the school year, from Tuesday evening through Saturday evening, this year August 24-29. The  Orientation team– comprised of 22 men from every year of formation–spent the three days prior preparing for the new arrivals. The week is filled  with conferences and activities, like registration for classes, social hours in the evening, a meet-and-greet cookout with the returning seminarians on Friday, and a pilgrimage to historical Sulpician sites in and around Baltimore. This year, the Orientation Team welcomed 28 new seminarians: 7 Basselins, 6 new Pre-Theologians, and 15 Theologians, from a total of 14 dioceses across the country,adding 4 new dioceses to Theological College: Cleveland, Corpus Christi, Rockville Centre, and Vienna (Austria).The week culminated in an Evening of Recollection with Cardinal Wuerl. After a day of retreat,these new men signed their names in the Book of Inscription at the official Opening of the Year Mass at TC on the evening of the Sunday, August 30th.