Throughout the entire time of formation, the seminarian is accompanied. This is especially the role of the formators. The accompaniment aims at assisting the seminarian, first as a son of God seeking the Father’s will and being drawn to deeper conversion and union. “In the process of formation, it is necessary that the seminarian should know himself and let himself be known, relating to the formators with sincerity and transparency. Personal accompaniment, which has docibilitas to the Holy Spirit as its goal, is an indispensable means of formation.” (Ratio 45).
Human Formation
The foundation and center of all human formation is Jesus Christ who is the ‘human character’ of God’s minister: he comes from the human community and is at its service, imitating Jesus Christ ‘who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin’ (Heb 4:15).”
The basic principle of human formation is to be found in Pastores dabo vobis, no. 43: the human personality of the priest is to be a bridge and not an obstacle for others in their meeting with Jesus Christ the Redeemer of the human race. As the humanity of the Word made flesh was the instrumentum salutis, so the humanity of the priest is instrumental in mediating the redemptive gifts of Christ to people today. As Pastores dabo vobis also emphasizes, human formation is the “necessary foundation” of priestly formation.
The human formation of candidates for the priesthood aims to prepare them to be apt instruments of Christ’s grace.
Growth counseling services are available to all seminarians at Nazareth Seminary. This important program supports the mental health of our seminarians through individual and group counseling by a Psychologist specifically trained in seminary formation.
Spiritual Formation
Human formation leads to and finds its completion in spiritual formation. Human formation continues in conjunction with and in coordination with the spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral dimensions of formation. It steadily points to the center, which is spiritual formation. “For every priest his spiritual formation is the core which unifies and gives life to his being a priest and his acting as a priest” (Pastores dabo vobis, no. 45). The basic goal of spiritual formation is summed up in Optatam totius: to live in intimate and unceasing union with God the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit. This is the foundational call to discipleship and conversion of heart. Those who aspire to be sent on mission, as the apostles were, must first acquire the listening and learning heart of disciples. Jesus invited these apostles to come to him before he sent them out to others. St. Augustine alluded to this double identity and commitment as disciple and apostle, when he said to his people, “With you I am a Christian, for you I am a bishop.” To live in intimate and unceasing union with God the Father through his Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit is far more than a personal or individual relationship with the Lord; it is also a communion with the Church, which is his body. The spirituality that belongs to those who are priests or preparing for priesthood is at one and the same time Trinitarian, Christological, pneumatological, and ecclesial. It is a spirituality of communion rooted in the mystery of the Triune God and lived out in practical ways in the mystery of ecclesial communion. The spirituality cultivated in the seminary is specifically priestly. Through the Sacraments of Initiation, seminarians already share in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ with other members of the Church. They also aspire to become priests who are configured to Christ, Head and Shepherd of the Church, our great high Priest. Therefore, their spirituality draws them into the priestly, self-sacrificial path of Jesus. He is the one whose service finds its high point in giving his life as a ransom for the many. He is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep “so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” He is the bridegroom who loves his bride, the Church, “and handed himself over for her.” Given these basic dimensions of priestly spirituality that are foundational to the program of spiritual formation in the seminary, the seminary should identify those characteristics and practices that foster its growth.
Pastoral Formation
All four pillars of formation are interwoven and go forward concurrently. Still, in a certain sense, pastoral formation is the culmination of the entire formation process: “The whole formation imparted to candidates for the priesthood aims at preparing them to enter into communion with the charity of Christ the Good Shepherd. Hence, their formation in its different aspects must have a fundamentally pastoral character.”6
In virtue of the grace of Holy Orders, a priest is able to stand and act in the community in the name and person of Jesus Christ, Head and Shepherd of the Church. This sacramental character needs to be completed by the personal and pastoral formation of the priest, who appropriates “the mind of Christ” and effectively communicates the mysteries of faith through his human personality as a bridge, through his personal witness of faith rooted in his spiritual life, and through his knowledge of faith. These elements of formation converge in pastoral formation.
The basic principle of pastoral formation is enunciated in Pastores dabo vobis, no. 57: “The whole training of the students should have as its object to make them true shepherds of souls after the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, teacher, priest, and shepherd.” To be a true “shepherd of souls” means standing with and for Christ in the community, the Christ who teaches and sanctifies and guides or leads the community. The grace to be a shepherd comes with ordination. That grace, however, calls for the priest’s personal commitment to develop the knowledge and skills to teach and preach well, to celebrate the sacraments both properly and prayerfully, and to respond to people’s needs as well as to take initiatives in the community that holy leadership requires.
The aim of pastoral formation—the formation of a “true shepherd” who teaches, sanctifies, and governs/serves/leads.
Intellectual Formation
There is a reciprocal relationship between spiritual and intellectual formation. The intellectual life nourishes the spiritual life, but the spiritual also opens vistas of understanding, in accordance with the classical adage credo ut intelligam (‘I believe in order to know’). Intellectual formation is integral to what it means to be human. “Intellectual formation . . . is a fundamental demand of man’s intelligence by which he ‘participates in the light of God’s mind’ and seeks to acquire a wisdom which in turn opens to and is directed towards knowing and adhering to God.”5
The basic principle of intellectual formation for priesthood candidates is noted in Pastores dabo vobis, no. 51: “For the salvation of their brothers and sisters, they should seek an ever deeper knowledge of the divine mysteries.” Disciples are learners. The first task of intellectual formation is to acquire a personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the fullness and completion of God’s revelation and the one Teacher. This saving knowledge is acquired not only once, but it is continuously appropriated and deepened, so that it becomes more and more part of us. Seminary intellectual formation assumes and prolongs the catechesis and mystagogia that is to be part of every Christian’s journey of faith. At the same time, this knowledge is not simply for personal possession but is destined to be shared in the community of faith. And that is why it is “for the salvation of their brothers and sisters.” Intellectual formation has an apostolic and missionary purpose and finality.
In the seminary program, intellectual formation culminates in a deepened understanding of the mysteries of faith that is pastorally oriented toward effective priestly ministry, especially preaching. This understanding, however, requires previous intellectual formation and academic integrity as foundational. The overall goal of every stage of seminary formation is to prepare a candidate who is widely knowledgeable about the human condition, deeply engaged in a process of understanding divine revelation, and adequately skilled in communicating his knowledge to as many people as possible. Moreover, continuing education after ordination is a necessity for effective ministry.
The intellectual formation of the candidate must be directed to the ecclesial dimensions of priestly formation, namely, the teaching office (munus docendi) of the priesthood. The doctrinal, educational, catechetical, and apologetical aspects of a candidate’s training are to prepare the seminarian to be a faithful, loyal, and authentic teacher of the Gospel. As a man of the Church, the priest preaches and teaches in fidelity to the magisterium, particularly the Holy Father and the diocesan bishop. The intellectual formation program must emphasize the intrinsic relationship between the knowledge gained in theological preparation and the ecclesial dimensions of priestly service, since the education of a priest is never seen in isolation from the Tradition of the Church.
Nazareth Seminary partners with Mary College at Arizona State University, where educational requirements are fulfilled among the general student population and seminarians earn degrees in Philosophy and Theology.