Program of Priestly Formation 6th edition

22 | PROGRAM OF PRIESTLY FORMATION

j. A life that embraces “the mind and heart of missionaries open to the needs of the Church and the world” 80 k. A life that promotes the array of ecclesial vocations 81 The diocesan priest entrusted with the care of souls in many ways normally serves in parochial ministry. In the parish he will encounter the day-to-day joys and sorrows of the faithful as he accompanies them throughout life, continually leading them to encounter Christ. This art of accompaniment, which develops in the heart of the seminarian and continues to deepen in the heart of the priest, allows him lovingly to accompany the flock entrusted to him; he thus becomes a spiritual father to his people. The life of priests in religious institutes and societies of apostolic life encompasses everything that has been said about the life of priests generally. It also adds to the exercise of the ministerial priesthood the distinctive aspects of a religious institute’s Rule of Life or of the consti tution of a society of apostolic life. These aspects include the spirituality of the institute or society, common life, and distinctive apostolates that witness to the community’s charism as a gift of the Spirit to the Church. Priestly formation for those men belonging to a form of consecrated life must therefore always situate the vocation to the priesthood within the charism and thus reference the spirituality, history, and mission of the particular institute of consecrated life or society of apostolic life, with fidelity to its founder, the institute’s or society’s mission, and the Church which receives that charism. The primary context of priesthood for members of an institute of consecrated life or society of apostolic life ordinarily comes from the nature of the life itself as a deepening and fulfillment of a baptismal commitment to Christ by observing the evangelical counsels in an institute of conse crated life or a society of apostolic life approved by the Church. 82 Those men belonging to an institute of consecrated life or society of apostolic 44. 45. 46. 80 Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 32. See St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio ( On the Permanent Validity of the Church’s Missionary Mandate ) (Washington, DC: USCCB, 1990), nos. 15-16; CIC, cc. 245, 257; CCEO, c. 352 §3. 81 CIC, cc. 233, 275 §2; CCEO, cc. 329 §1, 2°, 381 §3. 82 “By the profession of the evangelical counsels the characteristic features of Jesus— the chaste, poor and obedient one— are made constantly ‘visible’ in the midst of the world and the eyes of the faithful are directed towards the mystery of the Kingdom of God already at work in history, even as it awaits its full realization in heaven.” Vita Consecrata , no. 1.