Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests (Ascension)

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Chapter 6: Pastoral Formation

on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, such as exploring ways to help penitents overcome habitual sins or reminding priests of the various reserved penalties, faculties for their remission, and their relationship to the sacrament. Methods to strengthen homiletics skills are always welcome, as is concrete assistance in giving spiritual direction, preparing couples for marriage, and performing other priestly duties. 214 235 Some priests find that a temporary shift away from direct parish ministry can be highly restorative. Though such a break can be a sacrifice for dioceses already coping with a shortage of priests, giving some men an opportunity to enrich skills and pastoral experience can be a good way to provide long-term personal development and enable them to return to parish ministry more motivated than ever. Such opportunities could include, for instance, working for a time as a chaplain, taking an extended sabbatical, or enrolling in short courses on topics such as bioethics, liturgy, canon law, or deliverance ministry. Opportunities could also include more intense, direct work with the poor and marginalized or even a period doing missionary work at home or abroad. 236 The field of pastoral counseling offers many opportunities for ongoing formation. A workshop offering an overview of psychology from the perspective of Catholic anthropology could be very helpful. Knowing how to approach specific issues such as depression, suicide prevention, and troubled marriages can be critical in providing accompaniment and Christ-centered consultation. Of equal importance is recognizing when an issue is beyond the priest’s scope 214 “Particularly interesting may be the organization of courses or seminars on the apostolate of the Sacrament of Confession or on practical questions of spiritual direction in both general and spe cific situations. Practical formation in the field of the liturgy is also particularly important. Special attention should be reserved to learning how to celebrate the Mass well—as pointed out earlier, the ars celebrandi is a sine qua non condition of the actuosa partecipatio of the faithful—and to adoration outside the Mass.” DMLP, no. 96.

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