Formation

Artist's conception of the future St. Joseph Seminary, currently under construction
Images created by COHOS EVAMY integratedesign

Formation Program – Overview

The Seminary formation program aims at personalizing the whole process of the candidate’s formation; this means that it allows and fosters personal, responsible assumption and integration of the seminarian’s own insights. We must never forget that “the candidate himself is a necessary and irreplaceable agent in his own formation: all formation, priestly formation included, is ultimately a self-formation.” (Pastores Dabo Vobis 69)

Such integration can be fostered in four major ways:

The first and main one is the constant search of an ever deeper union with Jesus the Good Shepherd, Prophet and Priest.
The second is that of the Seminary community itself which helps the candidate to grow in the various dimensions of priestly life:
Spiritual direction is meant to be the means par excellence for fostering personal integration and unity.
Finally, the seminarian establishes at the beginning of the year a Personal Growth Plan which outlines the particular emphasis he intends to give to his spiritual and intellectual life, his community and pastoral involvement as well as his specific focus for his human and vocational growth.

In accordance with the Sulpician teaching tradition, the members of the Formation Team share the life of the seminarians.

This integral Seminary formation covers a five-year period: two years of formation and theology at the Seminary, followed by the full year of pastoral internship in a parish of the candidate’s diocese, and a return to the Seminary for fourth and fifth years of formation and theology.

Next: Human Formation