Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

CHAPTER 2: ONGOING FORMATION | 33

AIDS TO PERSONAL, FRATERNAL, AND EPISCOPAL MEANS

85. Apart from the three main sources of ongoing formation— personal, fraternal, and episcopal—regional and national organizations as well as countless grassroots efforts provide ongoing formation to priests. The opportunities afforded by the Internet, including digital platforms and virtual learning, have vastly expanded the reach of these efforts. In fact, the greater struggle today lies not in finding opportunities to grow, but rather in selecting well among the options available. Moreover, however useful the online options might be, they can never entirely replace live interaction with other priests. At their best, however, these adjunct means of formation can be a great blessing to a priest who is serious about his continued formation. They can supplement the personal, fraternal, and episcopal means of formation and provide enrichment and support particularly for priests who lack structured support in their region or diocese. 86. 87. We read in the Scriptures that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus one day and asked him for a favor. They wanted to sit on his right and on his left in glory. Jesus asked them, “Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They replied with youthful earnestness, “We can!” (Mk 10:38-39). They could not know what they were promising. They did not know what life had in store for them, the suffering they would have to endure. Perhaps that was for the best, because their hearts might have failed them. What they did know is that Jesus would be with them through it all. On the day of our ordination, we too were ready for anything. We gave our earnest We can! like James and John did. And though we did not know what life would bring or what suffering we would encounter, we did know that Jesus would be with us, whatever lay ahead. There have been changes along the way: in our ministry, in our relationships, in our health, and in many other circumstances of life. For an approach to ongoing forma tion to be effective, it must recognize these changes and accommodate them. What follows are sketches of typical phases of life experienced by 88. ONGOING FORMATION AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF LIFE