Program of Priestly Formation (Ascension)

PPF 285

Program of Priestly Formation

way that it perfects the human development of students, sharpens their minds, and makes them better able to pursue theological studies.” 356 The philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas should be given the pride of place that the Church accords it. 357 Especially in the courses on the history of philosophy, there should be a significant treatment of St. Thomas’s thought, along with its ancient sources and its later development. The fruitful relationship between philosophy and theology in the Christian tradition should be explored through studies in Thomistic thought as well as the thought of other great Christian theologians who were also great philosophers. These include certain Fathers of the Church, medieval Doctors, and recent Christian thinkers in the Western and Eastern traditions. 358 Theology Seminarians in the discipleship stage, build on the process they began in the propaedeutic stage and engage in courses that focus on the fundamental beliefs and practices of the Catholic faith. In particular, they should concentrate on those elements of the faith that stand as a presupposition for all forms of graduate theological study. Theology courses in the discipleship stage should study the themes contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church , including courses on Catholic doctrine, liturgy and the sacraments, Catholic morality, Christian prayer, and Sacred Scripture. All seminarians should be thoroughly acquainted with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its contents as a source for “a full, complete exposition of Catholic doctrine” and for “the requirements of contemporary catechetical 356 CIC, c. 251; see CCEO, c. 349 §1. 357 See Optatam Totius , no. 16n36; Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 53; Fides et Ratio , nos. 43-44; CIC, c. 251; CCEO, c. 349 §1. In articulating the mind of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council on this point, the Congregation for Catholic Education, in its document on The Study of Philosophy in Seminaries , observed that “the repeated recommendations of the Church about the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas remain fully justified and still valid. In this philosophy the first principles of natural truth are clearly and organically enunciated and harmonized with revelation. Within it also is enclosed that creative dynamism which, as biographers attest, marked the teaching of St. Thomas and which must also characterize the teaching of those who desire to follow his footsteps in a continual and renewed synthesizing of the valid conclusions received from tradition with new conquests of human thought.” “Philosophy in Seminaries,” Origins 1, no. 39 (March 16, 1972): 659. 358 See Fides et Ratio , no. 74.

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