The great philosopher and doctor of the Church, St. Augustine is credited for saying something in the 5th century that still holds true today: Ecclesia semper reformanda est. This phrase, loosely translated states that “the Church is always reforming herself.” When we consider that the Church is alive, we can understand that reform and evolution is as part of her life as it is a part of yours and mine. One of those ways the Church has undergone reform is through the Program of Priestly Formation. Before we discuss one of the new things, let’s examine a bit of the history.

The way that the process works is that the Holy Father, through the dicastery of the clergy (encompassing seminaries and seminarians) will send out a guiding document (Ratio Fundamentalis) to all the Episcopal Conferences (e.g. USCCB – United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) throughout the world. Then each conference is to come up with a program (PPF – Program of Priestly Formation) using the specifications of the guiding document. A brief history sees the first PPF promulgated in 1971 shortly after the guiding documents that arose from the Second Vatican Council. The next major shift came from the 1992 Post Synodal Exhortation by St. John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis. This document still plays a pivotal role in priestly formation. Then in 2016 Rome issues the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in 2016 which begins the process of the sixth edition of the PPF, commonly called PPF-6.

The big change in the entire program of priestly formation comes in the terminology. Upon reading and reflecting on PPF-6, one gets a sense that the Church is moving away from strictly academic language. Priestly formation is not simply academics, there is so much more. The language of the new program calls for a more wholistic approach to formation as the seminarians are called to excel in human formation, intellectual formation, spiritual formation, and pastoral formation. To achieve this goal the document proposes four stages of formation: the Propaedeutic, Discipleship, Configuration, and Vocational Synthesis.

After this extensive introduction, allow me to explain what the Propaedeutic stage is all about. The Propaedeutic Stage is a time of preparation that the men enter before beginning the academic rigors of their Philosophy studies in the Discipleship Stage. There are two goals for the Propaedeutic Stage: Know God and Know Yourself. This is done by having the men live in intentional community with a rigorous prayer life, they engage in learning about God and the cultural reality of the Church in different classes, and finally to engross themselves in the process, there is a technology fast.

These three tenants of the Propaedeutic stage set it aside from other stages of formation. Here at St. John Vianney, the Propa-dudes (as they like to be called), live off campus in a house that is about one block away from the college. The communal reality of the program reminds the seminarians that they are not in a bubble and one day will have to deal with the interpersonal relationships found in parishes and the presbyterate. The communal living affords them the opportunity to continue meaningful conversations based on the lecture they just heard in class. Since they cannot retreat into technology, good conversations and good friendships forge rather quickly. During this time, they are also encouraged to deepen their prayer life and to take on good and healthy habits.

Please pray for vocations. Pray for the men who are in discernment, especially the Propaedeutic stage. Finally, pray for us priests who are charged with the work of forming these men into the Priests that God is calling them to be.