Program of Priestly Formation 6th edition

Foreword

The development of this sixth edition of the Program of Priestly Formation (PPF) began with a review of the fifth edition by the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, the National Association of Catholic Theological Schools, the National Association of College Seminaries and the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors. Following the consultation of the full Conference at regional meetings of the USCCB, a request was made to the Congregation for the Clergy for a simple renewal of the recognitio for the fifth edition, which was granted on October 15, 2015. In December 2016, the new Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis was released; in 2016, Bishop Michael Burbidge, Chair of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations (2013 2016), formed a working group to draft a new edition of the PPF. The working group completed their work under the new Chair of the CCLV, His Eminence, Joseph Cardinal Tobin, C.Ss.R. (2016-2019). Members of the working group included Bishop Earl Boyea, Chair; Bishop Peter Baldacchino; Bishop Andrew Cozzens; Bishop Michael Olson; Bishop Thomas Paprocki; Msgr. Todd Lajiness; Msgr. Robert Panke; Rev. John Pavlik, OFM Cap; Rev. Tobias Rodriguez; Reverend Gladstone Stevens, PSS; and Rev. Jorge Torres, while Rev. Ralph O’Donnell, Rev. Luke Ballman and Rev. Daniel Hanley of the CCLV Secretariat supported the working group. Following the completion of the draft, feedback from the CCLV Collaborating Committees and experts was incorporated into the text. The document was approved by the General Assembly in November 2019 and subsequently submitted to the Congregation for the Clergy for recog nitio. Pope Francis modified CIC, c. 242 §1 motu proprio on February 11, 2022, changing recognitio to confirmatio . On March 22, 2022, Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, and Archbishop Andrés Gabriel Ferrada Moreira, Secretary, issued the Decree confirming ad quinquennium the sixth edition of the Program of Priestly Formation . The Decree noted that the Conference, “welcoming the indi cations of the recent Magisterium, intends to offer candidates for priestly ministry a human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation achieved