Program of Priestly Formation (Ascension)

PPF 370

Pastoral Dimension

object to make them true shepherds of souls after the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, teacher, priest, and shepherd.” 433 To be a true “shepherd of souls” means to stand with and for Christ in the community, the Christ who teaches, sanctifies, and guides or leads the community. The grace to be a shepherd comes with ordination. That grace, however, calls for the priest’s personal commitment to develop the knowledge and skills to teach and preach well, to celebrate the sacraments both properly and prayerfully, and to respond to people’s needs as well as to take initiatives in the community that holy servant leadership requires. Developing this knowledge and these skills while still in the initial stages of formation enables him as a priest to assume the role of a shepherd, who learns to recognize God at work in the lives of his flock and who, ever present to them as a “man of communion,” directs the flock to Christ. 434 The aim of pastoral formation—the formation of a “true shepherd” who teaches, sanctifies, and governs or leads—implies that such formation must include a number of essential elements: a. Proclamation of the Word : Pastoral formation needs to emphasize the proclamation of God’s Word, which indeed is the first task of the priest. 435 This proclamation is aimed at the spiritual nourishment of the people and the conversion of sinners and is rooted in the seminarian’s or preacher’s ability to listen deeply to the lived experiences and realities of the faithful. This listening is followed by the preacher’s ability to interpret those lived experiences in the light of Sacred Scripture and the Church’s Tradition. 436 Understanding this intersection of God’s Word and human experiences, the seminarian as preacher initiates a lifelong mission

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433 Pastores Dabo Vobis, no. 57, citing Optatam Totius, no. 4. 434 Ratio Fundamentalis , no. 119. 435 See Presbyterorum Ordinis , no. 4.

436 See USCCB, Fulfilled in Your Hearing , 20; USCCB Committee on CCLV, Preaching the Mystery of Faith . See also St. John Paul II, letter to Archbishop John L. May, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, August 8, 1987; Notes on the Correct Way to Present Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church (1985); We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah (1998).

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