Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

CHAPTER 5: INTELLECTUAL FORMATION | 77

FRATERNAL MEANS

201. As is the case with any human virtue, the habit of study is strongly influenced by the example and encouragement of those around us. Priest friends who take seriously the intellectual life will help us sustain good academic habits with their encouragement, affirmation, and accountability. This support happens informally through ordinary conversations when friends share the fruits of their reading with each other. The exchange of interesting intellectual ideas with friends is one of the great joys in life, a way to expand our own horizons, and—even more significantly—a means to spur the friendship toward new depths of mutual understanding and affection. More formally, fraternal groups can also contribute to our ongoing intellectual formation. Many priests take part in theological or book discus sion groups on a regular basis. By jointly selecting the material to discuss, such groups give direction to priests who might otherwise be unsure of what to read. By holding each other accountable, they give motivation to priests who are striving to build a regular habit of study. Above all, such groups enrich participants by promoting a lively discussion of important ideas, further reinforcing the benefits of a flourishing intellectual life. 202. 203. There are many ways that a diocesan bishop can foster the ongoing intellectual formation of priests. He can, first of all, give personal testimony to the importance of ongoing study, publicly sharing the fruits of his own reading. Priest gatherings, convocations, and study days are ideal opportu nities for him to speak about the habit of study. He might wish to touch on what he has been studying; work it into talks, homilies, and pastoral writings; or simply discuss it with priests during parish visits. A diocesan bishop can also host study days for priests that, at least occasionally, address deeper theological topics. 169 Such meetings can be more formal, perhaps including an address by a prominent theologian 204. EPISCOPAL MEANS

169 “It would be necessary above all to deepen understanding of the principal aspects of priestly existence by referring in particular to biblical, patristic, theological and hagiographic teachings in which the priest must be constantly updated not only by reading good books, but also by attending study courses, confer ences, etc.” DMLP, no. 94.