National Directory

152

ORGANIZATION, STRUCTURE, AND PERSONNEL FOR DIACONAL FORMATION

are provided and supervised by a Catholic college or university, usually located within the diocese. In these situations, diocesan coordinators carefully and comprehensively integrate the compo nents of formation. Similar to the college/university model is the model that involves a graduate school of theology . 3. A diocesan or religious seminary may offer valuable resources for the formation of deacons. The unique and dedicated role of the seminary for priestly formation and the distinction between priestly and diaconal identities must be maintained. “Prudent, limited” use of seminary facilities may be a useful resource available to the dioc esan bishop in the formation of participants in a diaconal formation program. 3 4. In a collaborative model, several specific groups, such as reli gious institutes or dioceses of a province, may choose to unite their resources. The groups maintain separate formation directors and selection processes, but they join together for one or more parts of formation. Care must be taken to ensure that the various com ponents of formation are integrated in a comprehensive manner so that each participating group has a clear understanding of its specific responsibilities. 275. Regional provinces, as well as large individual dioceses, may consider employing distance learning as an alternative model for achieving part of the intellectual and pastoral dimensions of diaconal formation. The flexibility that distance learning offers can be a desirable feature in diaconal formation, because it honors a family life perspective in for mation and ministry and recognizes the multiple demands on the par ticipants that can make it difficult to be present at one location. 4 276. In the United States of America, a significant number of educational institutions, such as local community colleges or universities, have the capacity to conduct video interactive conferencing with multiple sites. Distance Learning