- Priestly Vocations
- Admissions
- The Four Pillars of Formation
- Pre-Theology Program
- Theology Program
- Course Offerings
- Seminary Daily Life
Intellectual Formation
St. John's Seminary School of Theology exists primarily to prepare and recommend candidates for ordination to the ministerial priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church. It offers a program at a graduate professional level designed to foster the students' understanding and personal assimilation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as expressed in the Tradition of the Church and found it in doctriinal and spiritual traditions. It intends thereby to promote their development for the ministry of word, sacrament, and pastoral care.
The goal of the academic program at St. John's Seminary is to promote serious intellectual inquiry into and mastery of the essential aspects of Catholic religious tradition and of ways of living the Catholic faith in daily life.
Through study, students come to understand and assimilate the Catholic faith as proposed and safeguarded by the magisterium of the Church. The study of philosophy and the humanities prepares for the study of theology. Together, students come to understand and appreciate the task of theology by identifying the Catholic synthesis of faith and reason.
The academic program also seeks to help seminarians as Catholic believers acquire a basic competence with regard to the history of the Catholic Church and the content of the Church's religious tradition.
Spiritual Formation
The ministerial Priesthood requires a profound conformity to Jesus Christ the Head and Bridegroom of his Church. This conformity to Christ is a work of the Holy Spirit begun in the years of the seminarian's formation and continued throughout his Priestly life and service. Spiritual direction is an essential component of this formation. The instruction of the Holy See on seminary admissions states that the spiritual director, "though bound to secrecy, represents the Church in the internal forum." He is responsible for guiding the spiritual growth of the seminarian in acquiring the "mind of Christ" (cf. I Cor.2:16) in virtuous fidelity to the teaching and practice of the Church. The seminarian at St. John's has access to spiritual direction regularly every two weeks and the Sacrament of Reconciliation is available from the spiritual directors at any time or from confessors outside the Seminary, as he chooses.
Human Formation
Human formation is the foundation for the total endeavor of priestly formation. All the elements articulated in the Apostolic Exhortation "Pastores Dabo Vobis" are essential for the healthy development to human maturity.
The human qualities and virtues, which he possesses and cultivates, enable the mature person to become aware and sensitive to the needs of his fellow human being. This mature person is able to bridge for the faithful their search for and growth in an intimate encounter with Christ.
Affective maturity, appropriation of the meaning of responsible love, the knowledge and attachment to the "truth" of one's existence, the commitment to the "sincere gift of self" and the obedience to a properly formed moral conscience are the constitutive elements that form the candidate into the mature Christian man receptive for the grace of Holy Orders.
Ultimately, the crucial task of human formation is to integrate in the candidate preparing for the sacrament of Holy Orders all the aspects of formation: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral.
Pastoral Formation
The essence of pastoral ministry is to be inspired by the love of Jesus Christ for His people. It " ...entails the development of skills and competencies that enable priests to serve their people well." (The Basic Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests). "The whole training of students should have as its object to make them true shepherds of souls." (Pastores Dabo Vobis # 57). We remember the words of our Lord, Peter do you love me? "Then feed my sheep."
Some particular skills and competencies of a parish priest:
- Proclaiming the Word
- Sacramental care / ministry
- Pastoral / spiritual counseling
- Directing catechesis
- Care of sick
- Social works / poor & immigrants
A seminarian aspiring to parish priesthood must have a practical and mature reflection of parish ministry (PDV # 109). The genesis of pastoral training necessarily involves parish based ministries. "When it comes to choosing places and services. the parish should be given particular importance." (PDV # 58). Some of the most prevalent ministries of parish life involve; outreach to sick & homebound, youth ministry, evangelization, and Catholic education & faith formation
From Pre-Theology through Second Theology, attention will be given to the placement of seminarians in sites that will offer experience and orientation with these ministries. Such placements may be:
- Parish RCIA & Adult Education Teams
- School Campus pastoral ministry teams
- Parish based pastoral care of sick & homebound
- Social ministries (parish based/city)
The hope is to foster an awareness of the parish as a place of communion, cooperation in pastoral work, and team ministry (PDV # 59). Skills of pastoral leadership, communication, and management, are integral elements of parish evangelization. These Skills will be topics of consideration for revised plans for learning and assessment forms. The latter two years of pastoral training, beginning the summer after Second Theology, will remain part of the parish internship for ordination. In any case, the primary goal will be to provide the best scenario for pastoral training of the seminarian.
