Program of Priestly Formation 6th edition

148 | PROGRAM OF PRIESTLY FORMATION

f. Catholic education : Pastoral formation must help seminarians develop an awareness and appreciation of the necessity of the education and formation of our young people. Catholic schools, parochial religious education, and youth ministry are all import ant means of evangelization and catechesis. g. A personal synthesis for practical use : Another way of viewing pas toral formation is to see it as a process linking the elements of human, spiritual, and intellectual formation in such a way that they can be put to practical use for others, especially in a parish context. 445 In a parish internship experience, for example, the seminarian draws on the experience before him in the parish and asks how his human, spiritual, and intellectual formation makes a difference. With due attention to the discipline of the Church, preaching might be one instance of a theoretical, personal, and practical synthesis. Other examples include evangelization, cat echesis, and participation in the Church’s social justice ministry. In these and other ways, he revisits his formation and views it through the lens of practice, application, and impact. 446 h. An initiation to various practical, pastoral experiences, especially in parishes : It is important not to sacrifice human, spiritual, and intellectual formation for practical experience. Still, it is essential to cultivate pastoral formation and to enhance and integrate the other dimensions of formation so that the seminarian has oppor tunities to experience pastoral life firsthand. 447 Seminaries must initiate seminarians into pastoral experi ences and pastoral reflection in a variety of ways including con current field placements and internships. In the vocational syn thesis stage, reflection with the pastoral team at his assignment and with his formators will help the newly ordained deacon to synthesize and strengthen the integration of all he has experi enced in formation. Whatever the setting, it is necessary that it facilitates learn ing. It is also necessary that there be a guide, mentor, or teacher who accompanies the seminarian and helps him to learn from the experience. In addition, there must be a skilled priest super

445 See Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 58. 446 The goal is “to help the seminarian to acquire the inner freedom to live the apostolate as service, able to see the work of God in the hearts and lives of the people.” Ratio Fundamentalis , no. 119. 447 See Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 58; CCEO, c. 353.