Program of Priestly Formation 6th edition

SEMINARY FORMATION: STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS | 63

vocational synthesis stage is distinct from what is commonly referred to as a “pastoral year.” 190 The purpose of the vocational synthesis stage is to allow a deacon to enter into the life of a cleric, incorporating the entirety of the forma tion he has received from the moment of Baptism until his reception of Holy Orders. Rather than “on-the-job training,” this stage is the living of a vocation as an ordained minister, because the diaconate is a new ontological and existential reality. The vocational synthesis stage is not a period of discernment for the priesthood, which began intensely in the propaedeutic stage and was confirmed during the discipleship and config uration stages. The goal is not so much acquiring new pastoral skills— though these certainly will be gained—but more adjusting well to the life of ministry before advancing to priestly ordination. It is about the deacon’s readiness to assume the duties of full-time priestly ministry. Therefore, it is not a question of suitability for Holy Orders, which was judged during the scrutiny prior to diaconate ordination, but a preparation for the final judgment regarding the conferral of the Order of Priesthood which should be made upon the completion of the vocational synthesis stage. 191 The vocational synthesis stage takes place “outside the Seminary building” 192 and “is the time from leaving the Seminary until the subse quent priestly ordination, which obviously is brought about by the conferral of the diaconate.” 193 The vocational synthesis stage takes place within the ecclesiastical entity which the deacon is preparing to serve, since by diaconal ordination the cleric is incardinated into the particular local Church, institute, or society. Thus, another purpose of this stage is the integration of the deacon into the clergy of his diocese, institute, or society, a process that should precede his entrance into the Order of Priests. In this way, the vocation of the deacon is consolidated within a concrete reality, within his own ecclesiastical entity, accompanied by his bishop, superior, presbyterate, religious community, and parish. This provides for a particular formation which most seminaries cannot offer. While every seminary should be capable of forming men to become priests, most seminaries cannot form men to be priests of their own particular ecclesiastical entity. 138. 139.

190 See CIC, c. 1032 §2. 191 See CIC, cc. 1028, 1030. 192 Ratio Fundamentalis , no. 75. 193 Ratio Fundamentalis , no. 74.