Program of Priestly Formation (Ascension)

PPF 201

Program of Priestly Formation

this stage it is evident that he is capable of having and invested in maintaining wholesome friendships with priests and others and that he willingly participates in presbyteral gatherings. He is committed to mentoring relationships with men and women who assist in his pastoral placement. He demonstrates appropriate transparency in his relationships with his supervisor and staff and is accountable to them regarding his responsibilities and schedule. Being a healthy member of a presbyterate also includes the ability to initiate and spend time with priests and people from diverse generations, ethnicities, and viewpoints; it demonstrates the ability to live the communal nature of the priesthood. As the transitional deacon transitions to full-time ministry, it is important that he shows the ability to maintain regular habits of prayer, rest, exercise, and study and that he exercises good stewardship in a rectory or other communal setting. Having already established healthy habits and strategies of addressing any ongoing health concerns, in this stage he identifies (if necessary) and completes visits to long-term health care professionals (e.g., physician, dentist, and so on). He recognizes the need for and demonstrates ongoing vigilance regarding the use of technology, and he exhibits appropriate accountability with peers and his supervisor regarding the use of technology.

201

Norms for Human Formation Aim of the Human Formation Program

Every seminary must have a program of human formation appropriate to each stage of formation, which seeks to prepare men to be bridges for, not obstacles to, the spread of the Gospel. The identity to be fostered in the seminarian is that he becomes a man of communion, that is, someone who makes a gift of himself and is able to receive the gift of others. 259 He needs integrity and self-possession in order

202

259 See Ratio Fundamentalis , nos. 41, 52.

104