Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests (Ascension)

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Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

4 Countless priests through the ages have had experiences like Timothy’s. Once their initial formation is complete, priests are sent into the vineyard to care for souls and preach the Gospel. Priests, often at a young age, are entrusted with weighty pastoral responsibilities, but they lack the structures of support that were present in their seminary community. As Paul foresaw in the life of Timothy, priests still find it necessary to “stir into flame the gift of God” that they received through the imposition of the bishop’s hands. 5 Priestly renewal is a gift freely bestowed by God, and the priest bears the principal and primary responsibility for rekindling the grace of ordination as it belonged to Timothy. 1 Without the established means of formation that surrounded him in the seminary, the priest is now called to live in a way that allows the Lord to sustain his priesthood and help him grow in holiness and zeal. He needs to be proactive and intentional about his ongoing formation and must take concrete measures to live it out, because ongoing formation will not happen on its own. The consequences of failing to desire and engage in ongoing formation have been all too clear in recent decades. 6 The purpose of this document is to allow the Lord to continue to form priests in their personal and priestly formation. As bishops of the United States, we offer this document to our priests, our sons, who share the one priesthood of Jesus with us. We intend this Guide to help each priest to take stock of his life and ministry and to discern and formulate an individualized plan of formation. 2 1 St. John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis (I Will Give You Shepherds) , March 25, 1992, no. 23. Subsequent ly cited as PDV. 2 The 2001 Basic Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests was designed for bishops and their collabora tors responsible for ongoing formation. This Guide is intended as a practical tool for the priests them selves, in the light of current realities in society and the Church. These include a prevailing secular ethos, moral relativism, fewer priests, a large Catholic population, loss of credibility for the Church, and an overall lack of respect for religion due to the scandalous and criminal behavior of some clergy who have abused minors and engaged in sexual misconduct with adults (including seminarians), among other realities.

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