Program of Priestly Formation 6th edition

80 | PROGRAM OF PRIESTLY FORMATION

185. Human formation comes together in a particular way in the domain of human sexuality, and this is especially true for those who are preparing for a life of celibacy. The various dimensions of being a human person—the physical, the psychological, and the spiritual—converge in affective maturity, which includes human sexuality. Education is necessary for understanding sexuality and living chastely. Those preparing to live out a celibate commitment face particular challenges, especially in today’s cultural context of permissiveness and easy access to pornography. Education for chastity, a virtue incumbent on all Christians and in a unique way embraced in celibacy, presents it as a “virtue that develops a person’s authentic maturity and makes him or her capable of respecting and fostering the ‘nuptial meaning’ of the body.” 238 For all Christians, whatever their state of life, chastity cultivates the capacity for authentic self-gift in generative and faithful love. The celibate person renounces the realization of this capacity in marriage but embraces it in a universal izing love extended to all people. At the same time, the celibate commit ment requires the development of particular habits and skills of living and relating in order to live the commitment with integrity. “Since the charism of celibacy, even when it is genuine and has proved itself, leaves one’s affec tions and instinctive impulses intact, candidates to the priesthood need an affective maturity which is prudent, able to renounce anything that is a threat to it, vigilant over both body and spirit, and capable of esteem and respect in interpersonal relationships between men and women.” 239 Seminary formation in sexuality and celibacy communicates to men in priestly formation and enables them to appropriate the following: a. Their call to priestly celibacy as a share in the chastity of Christ, Head and Shepherd, Servant and Spouse 240 b. The physiological and psychological understanding of human sexuality c. The meaning of the virtue of chastity, which includes a formation in authentic principles of sexual maturity and chastity, including virginity, 241 and which also includes “a proper knowledge of the 186. 187.

238 Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 44. 239 Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 44. 240 See Sacramentum Caritatis , no. 24. 241 See Congregation for Catholic Education, Training for Priestly Celibacy (1993), and Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, A Guide to Formation in Priestly Celibacy (1974), 46.