Program of Priestly Formation (Ascension)

PPF 370

Pastoral Dimension

understand that their hearts and minds should bear a concern for the Universal Church as well. 438 Lastly, it is necessary that all priests have the heart of missionaries. 439 The Church is truest to her identity when she is an evangelizing Church, because the very nature of the Church is missionary. 440 Seminarians must be taught the concern for all Churches and people and should be given an opportunity to become acquainted with the work of the Pontifical Mission Societies, the Missionary Congregations of Religious, the home missions, and the missionary tradition over the centuries. An exposure to the Church’s missionary work during the years of formation can be beneficial to the seminarian, his discernment, and his future ministry. d. The community dimension : Pastoral formation must initiate seminarians to the care, guidance, and leadership that are extended to a community. The pastor is to be a man of communion and the shepherd of a flock. In the context of individualism in the United States, the concern is that “pastoral formation” and “pastoral care” might otherwise be limited to one-to-one contact. Pastoral ministry is primarily directed to a community and then to individuals within that community. Seminarians need to learn how to integrate and make available in service to God’s People all the formation they have received from all dimensions. This means the acquisition of certain skills, for example, an ability to communicate the mysteries of faith in clear and readily comprehensible language 441 using media and technology appropriate to the social context. At the same time, pastoral formation means more than acquiring skills. It signifies a level of personal development, fitting for a priest who acts in the person of Jesus Christ, Head and Shepherd, Servant 438 “Seminarians ought to be moved by an authentically Catholic spirit. While loving their own Diocese sincerely, they ought to be open to placing themselves at the service of the Universal Church or of other particular Churches.” Ratio Fundamentalis , no. 123. See CIC, c. 257 §1; CCEO, c. 352 §3. 439 See St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio , no. 67. 440 See Second Vatican Council, Ad Gentes Divinitus ( Decree on the Church’s Mission Activity ), in Austin Flannery, ed., Vatican Council II: Volume 1: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents , new rev. ed. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1996), no. 2; Evangelii Gaudium , no. 19. 441 See CIC, c. 255; CCEO, c. 352 §2.

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