by Very Reverend James A. Wehner, STD
Rector / President
The Objective of Priestly Formation
“To live in a seminary, which is a school of
the Gospel, means to follow Christ as the Apostles
did. You are led by Christ into the service of God
the Father and of all people, under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit. Thus you become more like Christ the
Good Shepherd in order better to serve the Church and
the world as a priest. In preparing for the priesthood
we learn how to respond from the heart to Christ’s
basic question: ‘Do you love me? (Jn 21:15).
For the future priest the answer can only mean total
self-giving” (Message of the Synod Fathers,
October 28, 1990).
Pontifical is Our Seminary Character
What makes a seminary unique unto itself? How does
its character distinguish it from other seminaries?
Every seminary in the United States follows the governing
documents on priestly formation namely Pastores Dabo
Vobis and the Program of Priestly Formation (5th
edition). The documents clearly establish the principles,
structures and objectives of priestly formation.
Yet, each seminary contributes its own charism that
it believes is responding to the sign of the times.
The Pontifical College Josephinum structures the
priestly formation program around the Magisterium,
theological mindset, and thought of the Holy Father
who draws on the entire Tradition of the Church to
carry out his apostolic ministry. The seminarians
listen carefully to what the Holy Father states and
how he is shepherding the Universal Church. This
apostolic vision will impact the seminarian’s
discernment of a vocation and his preparation for
priestly ministry. The newly ordained priest will
bring with him into ministry a special affection
for the Holy Father, a love and respect for his diocesan
bishop who is in union with the Holy Father, and
a model of service given for the people entrusted
to his care.
To achieve this goal, priestly formation must integrate
all aspects of its program around this concept. Of
particular importance are the rector’s conferences.
They are to communicate the mind of the Church as seminarians
are being formed to be more like the Good Shepherd.
As noted above, Saint Peter was asked a question by
Jesus and this same question is asked of us, particularly
those discerning a priestly vocation and for those
of us already ordained. “Do you love me?” To
answer that question, one must be formed, prepared,
purified, converted, and transformed into a spiritual
man, a man of prayer, a man of virtue, a man of the
Church, a true spiritual father. Jesus only asked
Saint Peter this question shortly before His Ascension
and at the end of his earthly ministry. Peter first
had to be formed by the Good Shepherd before he was
to walk in the footsteps of Christ and be His Vicar.
The Renaissance Priest: Spiritual Fathers for the
New Evangelization brings together the thought of both
Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. The Josephinum
enjoys pontifical status as more than a title but a
community of seminarians, faculty and staff who are
united to the Holy Father in a special bond of affection
that forms the spirituality, priestly identity and
eventual pastoral ministry of the newly ordained priest.
The New Evangelization
Pope John Paul II called for a new evangelization
in the Church – an evangelization in which faith
and culture would be in dialogue, how the Church
would proclaim the Gospel in a language that culture
could understand, and how the Church offers man a
true humanism that results in a culture of life,
a culture of freedom. The new evangelization requires
priests as the initial new evangelizers who live
their priesthood effectively in the cultural and
historical contexts of their local churches (cf.
PDV 2). “The new evangelization needs new evangelizers,
and these are the priests who are serious about living
their priesthood as a specific path towards holiness” (PDV
82).
Pope Benedict XVI, continuing to emphasize the new
evangelization, considers the promotion of authentic
culture as the means by which man receives, lives
and practices faith. Priests exercise their pastoral
ministry in culture, as purified or poisoned as culture
might be; and therefore seminarians must be prepared
for their culture. The seminarian must ask for and
receive the grace to know who he really is and what
he will become at ordination. Priestly ministry requires
that the priest really has an understanding of what
the Church is asking of him, what the faithful expect
from their priest, and how the priest views his own
pursuit of salvation. Pope Benedict recently asked: “What
does it mean, exactly, for priests, to evangelize?” He
answered: “Christian proclamation does not proclaim ‘words’ but
the Word, and the proclamation coincides with the very
person of Christ, ontologically open to the relationship
with the Father and obedient to his will. Therefore,
authentic service to the Word requires from the priest
that he strains toward a deep abnegation of himself,
until being able to say with the Apostle, “It
is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.” (Pope
Benedict XVI, June 24, 2009).
Priestly Identity
Much can be said about the “identity” of
a priest but humanly, pastorally, ministerially speaking,
he is the spiritual father of his flock, a good shepherd
making present in his own personhood, the Good Shepherd.
Pope John Paul II explains that our Christian identity
finds its source in the communion of persons in the
Blessed Trinity. This Trinitarian communion is extended
and prolonged in and through the Church. The nature
and mission of the ministerial priesthood cannot be
understood except through the multiple relationships
present among the People of God. Jesus Christ has revealed
in himself how the ministerial priesthood would serve
the universal priesthood of the New Covenant. “He
who receives you receives me, and he who receives me
receives him who sent me” (Mt 10:40).
Thus, the faithful’s experience and reception
of the ministerial priesthood is essential to God’s
plan. Seminary training must clearly confirm among
the seminarians how their formation is preparing
them to be configured to Christ making present through
their very being Christ himself. Emerging from priestly
ministry is the service of Christ as Good Shepherd
and the spousal love he expends to and for the People
of God. The seminarian must allow himself to be formed
as spouse for the Church and as shepherd for his
people for this is how Christ, the Good Shepherd,
makes himself present to his own body, the Mystical
Body of Christ, the Church (cf. PDV 13-18, PPF 15-18).
The Renaissance Priest
I see today the need for seminarians to be formed
as “renaissance
priests” – men who are truly cultural.
Men who believe in the Gospel, live the Gospel faithfully
and virtuously, and can preach the Gospel in their
culture helping to transform it into what God intended
it to be. What is a renaissance priest? He is cultured,
well-mannered, educated according to the great traditions
of our Roman Church and of our great nation. The renaissance
priest lives the Gospel in ways that others can see
in him the dialogue of faith and culture. The new evangelization
is carried forth in how the priest receives an assignment
from his Ordinary and how he will be a spiritual father
to his people.
What I mean by “renaissance” is taking
what is best from culture and conjoining it to our
faith experience. “Renaissance” demonstrates
where faith and culture intersect, how they are not
in opposition to one another. At the same time, Christians
have the culture of faith with its own language,
custom, history and context. Faith is meant to be
lived, lived in the present moment. Therefore, faith
needs culture to find expression for without culture,
faith remains an unlived reality, something remote
and inaccessible. Pope John Paul II begins his exhortation
on priestly formation describing the characteristics
of present-day culture, features that the Gospel
finds meaningful in expressing our faith as well
as features which distort or even prevent the Gospel
from being accepted. (PDV 5-7). By renaissance, the
priest becomes both a man of culture and a man of
faith propagating the mission of the Church in a
language, method and ministry accessible to the People
of God.
A renaissance priest is not one who is exclusively
an academic or man of letters, standing aloof or
apart from the people rather is a Christian humanist
in the best sense. This is why my rector conferences
rely heavily on the meaning of virtue. A priest must
be a man of virtue, putting on Christ and removing
the old ways of life. Priesthood is not a utilitarian
means to an end for this simply reduces priesthood
to functionalism. Rather, the ministerial priesthood
assures personal, sacramental experiences in pastoral
ministry. Priestly formation prepares the future
priest to enter into culture so that he can be the
shepherd who can lead the faithful to the pathways
of God’s Kingdom.
The priest cannot remove himself from the difficult
situations of life rather, as servant, walks with
his people and, as shepherd, leads them to the Truth
(see PDV 43).
Spiritual Fatherhood
Similar to the married man who is father to his children
and husband to his wife, the seminarian will cultivate
the human and spiritual virtues needed for him to
be a spiritual father to the flock and faithful spouse
to his bride, the Church. Unlike what the misinformed
believe, priesthood does not deny one’s masculinity
or generative love rather it accentuates it, ordains
it, and consecrates it for the People of God. The
Josephinum provides a formation environment where
seminarians are truly men, men developing the human
and spiritual virtues for priestly ministry and,
men being formed into spiritual fathers who can shoulder
the joys and burdens of the new evangelization.
The special graces we receive from Saint Joseph
here at the Pontifical College Josephinum are just
another dimension of our priestly formation program.
We strive to model Saint Joseph as the example of
spiritual fatherhood. What do we mean by spiritual
fatherhood? First, what we do not mean is that priests
live a secondary form of fatherhood. Nor by “spiritual” do we
mean that it is less physical, less demanding and maybe
more symbolic. No. Every man, married or celibate,
is ordered to live the vocation of “fatherhood.” This
is what it means to be a man. The essential aspects
of spiritual fatherhood include one who must genuinely
love, be a protector, provide and sacrifice, be willing
to suffer, and approach these responsibilities with
humility and gratitude. Saint Joseph lived his vocation
perfectly carrying out his duties more than just from
obligation but from a deep faith in God, understanding
his partnership with the Lord and contributing to God’s
plan by being obedient, faithful and a loving father
and husband (cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos,
1989).
A married man directs his generative love for wife
and children providing, protecting, sacrificing and
even suffering for his wife and children. Priests
discharge their duties in the same way seeing themselves
as men, men of faith, men who have cultivated the
manly virtues in order to be strong, loving, wise
spouses of the Church and shepherds for the flock.
The priestly formation program at the Josephinum
therefore considers spiritual fatherhood as an integrating
object for the pillars of formation. My rector conferences
are designed to keep this goal always front and center.
Integrated
Formation Program
The Renaissance Priest: Spiritual Fathers for the
New Evangelization is the foundation for how I
structure the rector’s conferences at the
Josephinum. The schedule represents a deliberate
approach in explaining to the seminarians the Church’s
overall vision for priestly formation considering
the four pillars and three priestly promises. This
integrative approach will assist the seminarian in
his discernment of a priestly vocation and enable
him to answer the question that Jesus posed to Saint
Peter as he was to begin his ministry as Vicar of
Christ: Do you love me? Peter’s answer to the
question was given in his preaching, written word,
and ultimately in his martyrdom. The Successor to
Saint Peter answers the question each day in his
own apostolic ministry which provides the seminarians
at the Josephinum a witness to how they will be asked
to answer the same question on the day of their ordination
and each day they exercise priestly ministry.
In a sense, the Josephinum is a Roman seminary in
American culture. We are not attempting to replicate
Roman seminaries rather this great American, ecclesial
community sees itself united to the Holy Father in
a unique way, modeling the apostolic vision of the
Pope in the schedule, horarium, courses, liturgies
and the overall seminary environment. It is the goal
of the Josephinum to prepare men to embrace this
new evangelization as renaissance priests who will
be true fathers to their people. Pope John Paul II
therefore reminded us: “Candidates for the priesthood should
prepare themselves very conscientiously to welcome
God’s gift and put it into practice, knowing
that the Church and the world have an absolute need
of them. They should deepen their love for Christ the
Good Shepherd, pattern their hearts on his, be ready
to go out as his image into the highways of the world
to proclaim to all mankind Christ the Way, the Truth
and the Life” (PDV 82).
