Program of Priestly Formation (Ascension)

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Program of Priestly Formation

Sacred Scripture, his relationship with Christ, and his personal spiritual growth. This friendship can be seen in his ability to live a simple life and articulate the reasons for it. He is able to recognize and articulate concretely God’s grace active in his life and the lives of others, identifying in common life that communio which enriches and deepens his life with Christ for the sake of others. He demonstrates an ability to maintain fidelity to the Liturgy of the Hours (or the Divine Praises, in the Eastern Catholic Churches), daily Mass, and personal prayer, both in the seminary or religious house and away from those structures. Thus he demonstrates that his spiritual life has been internalized and that he is not only fulfilling external requirements. He can assist others in their spiritual growth through a prayerful familiarity with God’s Word and the spiritual Tradition of the Church. By the end of the configuration stage, the seminarian can live the virtue of chastity and can communicate a free and joyful lifelong commitment to celibate chastity. With the ever-deepening awareness of his own humanity, with its gifts and limitations, he can recognize common and personal causes of loneliness and can develop a habit of healthy approaches to these challenges and improve his habit of solitude. 308 From the standpoint of his vocation, the seminarian can communicate a presumption of permanence to priesthood and share his joyful desire for lifelong priestly life and ministry, as well as a desire to live the sacramental life of a priest. He understands the importance of the

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308 Healthy habits in this area are crucial to his future well-being as a priest. “The Causes and Context data indicate that abuse is most likely to occur at times of stress, loneliness, and isolation. Such stress ful or challenging situations triggered the desire in some priests to form inappropriate relationships with others—such relationships were most often with adults, but sometimes with minors.” John Jay College Research Team, The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States , 1950-2010: A Report Presented to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2011), 120.

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