Program of Priestly Formation (Ascension)

188 PPF

Human Dimension

g. The ability to form mature, chaste relationships with both “men and women of various ages and social conditions,” both in his personal life and in pastoral ministry 243 h. The spiritual path that transforms the experience of loneliness into a holy solitude based on a “strong, lively and personal love for Jesus Christ” 244 i. An attitude that discerns the culture in the light of the Gospel, 245 seeing the positive and negative potentials of mass communications, various forms of entertainment, and technology, such as the internet 246 j. The capacity—for seminarians who are married or are discerning marriage in those jurisdictions that permit the priestly ordination of married men—to “shine forth with the splendor of chastity” and “to offer an outstanding example to other Christian faithful” in conducting family life and in educating children 247 In general, human formation happens in a threefold process of self knowledge, self-possession, and self-gift—and all of this in faith. 248 As this process unfolds, the human person becomes more perfectly conformed to the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. 249 The resources for fostering this process of human formation in a seminary context are many. They include the following: a. Instruction : The rector and other members of the seminary community offer the seminarians instruction in human formation through conferences, courses, and other educational means. b. Personal reflection : Seminarians are trained to live life reflectively and to examine, with regularity, their behavior, their

188

243 Ratio Fundamentalis , no. 95. 244 Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 44. 245 See Gaudium et Spes , no. 4. 246 See CIC, c. 666. 247 CCEO, cc. 374 and 375.

248 See USCCB Committee on Priestly Formation, Spiritual Formation in the Catholic Seminary (1982). 249 See Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, A Guide to Formation in Priestly Celibacy (1974), 19.

97