Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests (Ascension)

GOFP 176

Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

of solitude. By sharing prayer together, they encourage each other in perseverance and offer a measure of accountability. Similarly, fraternal groups such as those in the Jesus Caritas tradition can encourage spiritual growth through spiritual conversation, periods of prayer, and sharing of graces and struggles. 149 Episcopal Means 176 Diocesan bishops and their diocesan resources can do much to promote the spiritual formation of priests. 150 One important way is by offering diocesan retreats and days of recollection. Finding suitable and engaging preachers is not always easy; and a diocesan bishop’s personal attention to those choices, perhaps by personally inviting potential retreat masters, can motivate priests to attend. With the efficiency of modern travel, priests can also attend clergy retreats further afield without much difficulty. Identifying and encouraging these options, especially those aimed specifically at diocesan priests, can help them fulfill the canonical requirement that priests spend several days away in prayer annually. 151 In light of that expectation, diocesan bishops might also consider asking each priest yearly to identify when and where he plans to make his retreat.

177 On a more regular basis, diocesan bishops can cultivate the spiritual growth of priests by identifying and making available suitable

149 “Among the diverse forms of common life (residence, community at table, etc.), held in eminent pride of place is to be communal participation in liturgical prayer (see SC, nos. 26, 99; Institutio Gen eralis Liturgiae Horarum , no. 25). Its diverse modalities are to be encouraged according to possibilities and practical conditions, without necessarily transferring the albeit praiseworthy models proper to the religious life. Worthy of praise in particular are those associations which support priestly frater nity, holiness in the exercise of the ministry, and communion with the Bishop and the entire Church (see CIC, c. 278 §2; see also PDV, nos. 31, 68, 81).” DMLP, no. 39. 150 “In the present social context, the Bishop needs to remain particularly close to his flock and above all to his priests, showing a father’s concern for their ascetic and spiritual difficulties, and providing them with appropriate support to encourage them in fidelity to their vocation and to the requirements of an exemplary life in the exercise of the ministry.” St. John Paul II, Pastores Gregis (On the Bishop, Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World) , October 16, 2003, no. 21. See also Apostolorum Successores , no. 81. 151 See CIC, c. 276 §2, 4°.

80