The Seminary Formation Program

The seminary college follows the guidelines of the Program for Priestly Formation (PPF) as mandated by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB).

PPF70. "The Seminary should have a precise program of life with one aim which justifies the existence of the Seminary: preparation of future priests." (Pastores dabo vobis, no. 61)

PPF71. The goal is the development NOT just of a well-rounded person, a prayerful person, or an experienced pastoral practitioner, but rather one who understands his spiritual development within the context of his call to service in the Church, his human development within the greater context of his call to advance the mission of the Church, his intellectual development as the appropriation of the Church's teaching and tradition, and his pastoral formation as participation in the active ministry of the Church.

PPF72. The human, spiritual, intellectual, & pastoral formation are to be read in this unified and integrated sense. They are interrelated aspects of a human response to God's transforming grace.

PPF73. Clearly human formation is the foundation for the other three pillars. Spiritual formation informs the other three. Intellectual formation appropriates and understands the other three. Pastoral formation expresses the other three pillars in practice.

PPF82. It is both possible and necessary to integrate human formation with the other three pillars of formation - the spiritual, the intellectual, and the pastoral. Human formation is linked to spiritual formation by the Incarnate Word and by the fact that grace builds on nature and perfects nature. Human formation is linked to intellectual formation by the cultivation of the human functions of perception, analysis, and judgment. It also contributes to intellectual formation by enabling seminarians to pursue theology as a response to the questions of the human condition. Human formation is finally linked to pastoral formation, which enables a priest to connect with and care for others with his human personality.

Human Formation

Contact with people in all strata of society is at once the need, desire, mission, and experience of every priest. Skill and ease in relating to others, communicating and sharing with them, is essential to the priestly vocation. Sensitivity to the expressed and unexpressed desires and needs of others, a deepening sense of the oneness of humankind, together with a habit of charity, tact, and love for God and neighbor, are the elements of the priestly contact.

Spiritual Formation

The Catholic priest, who is the ideal and exemplar for the seminarian, should live a fully human, apostolic, and holy life of service to God and humanity. To this end, students preparing for the priesthood must cultivate a sincere and personal love for Christ and endeavor to imitate His compassionate love for people with increasing fidelity. Frequent contact with Jesus Christ manifest in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and in Sacred Scripture is essential for this personal love and consequent imitation. And this contact deepens and expands in prayer and spiritual reading coupled with serious study.

The Spiritual Formation Program engages seminarians both corporately and individually. It provides a daily, liturgically rich Eucharistic celebration with the monks of St. Joseph Abbey and the local community. Daily Morning and Evening Prayer are observed along with monthly reconciliation services and periodic spiritual conferences for the student body. Formation workshops are provided each semester concerning essential topics for priestly life. Weekend retreats are held off-campus for each class and for the entire student body. In the spirit of the liturgical year, special community observances are held during Lent, culminating in the annual seminary retreat held from Wednesday of Holy Week through the Pascal Vigil.

Seminarians also attend weekly class meetings with their Formation Class Moderators in which they cover an integrated curriculum of topics in preparation for priestly life and ministry.

Finally, the program fosters a life marked by personal prayer, spiritual reading, and growth in Christian maturity through on-campus spiritual direction and scheduled, daily periods of lectio divina.

The seminarian's progress in his spiritual development is a key element considered in his annual evaluation.

Intellectual Formation

A strong spiritual life built on Christian values can only aid the confident and free pursuit of intellectual activity; it supplies the defensible framework of values which underlies all Western Civilization, making it a unit. The Catholic priest must have a positive and dynamic interest in on-going intellectual growth, both his own and that of his people. Students, to lay a proper foundation for priestly work, must develop their God-given talents through worthwhile reading and creative and critical thinking, beyond a mere competence in class work. Insights and knowledge gained through their own wide-ranging efforts and freely shared with the peers of their community will further cultivate a spirit of service in the seminarian.

Pastoral Formation

The primary purpose of the Pastoral Formation Program at Saint Joseph Seminary College is to provide seminarians with an opportunity to develop ministerial awareness and effectiveness in preparation for the Roman Catholic priesthood. Through a process of actual engagement in ministry on a weekly basis, seminarians are familiarized with the various facets of ministry and are challenged to begin to develop their own ministerial identities.

Concerns and challenges facing the Church in contemporary culture offer all Christians, and especially those who aspire to priestly ministry, significant opportunities for pastoral activity. In particular, Pope John Paul II has repeatedly emphasized the need for a new evangelization, one in which, as the Pope writes in Christifideles Laici, a mending of the Christian fabric of society is accomplished through the remaking of the Christian fabric of the Church itself.

In order to grow in their understanding of how to be "servant-leaders", seminarians are engaged in a wide variety of ministry experiences. At the present time, they offer service to those who are elderly at Christwood Retirement Center, to economically disadvantaged children and youth at The Blue Stand and the Boys and Girls Club, to the disabled at New Heights Therapeutic Riding, to the emotionally troubled at Magnolia Behavioral Healthcare, to the dying and those who care for them at Canon Hospice, and to children and youth learning about their faith at Saint Jane de Chantal. Seminarians in their sophomore or junior year have the opportunity to experience the Native American culture through an immersion experience at Saint Labre Catholic Indian School in Ashland, Montana. Pastoral Formation for final year students culminates in the Mission Immersion Program currently located in Esquipulas, Guatamela.