Breaking: Vatican report on US Seminaries released

CNS is first to press:

An apostolic visitation team concluded that U.S. Catholic seminaries and houses of priestly formation are generally healthy, but recommended a stronger focus on moral theology, increased oversight of seminarians and greater involvement of diocesan bishops in the formation process."

This visitation has demonstrated that, since the 1990s, a greater sense of stability now prevails in the U.S. seminaries," the report said. "The appointment, over time, of rectors who are wise and faithful to the church has meant a gradual improvement, at least in the diocesan seminaries."

The report, sparked by the sexual abuse crisis that hit the U.S. church, concluded that seminaries appeared to have made improvements in the area of seminarian morality, most notably with regard to homosexual behavior.

"Of course, here and there some case or other of immorality -- again, usually homosexual behavior -- continues to show up," the report said. "However, in the main, the superiors now deal with these issues promptly and appropriately."

The report was dated Dec. 15 and signed by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, head of the Congregation for Catholic Education, which deals with seminaries. It was published on the Web site of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to coincide with National Vocation Awareness Week, which began Jan. 12.

You can read the entire report here online (warning: PDF file).

The Catholic Key has early, and helpful commentary.

"Holy See to publish document on use of psychology in seminaries"

Important:

On October 30 the Congregation for Catholic Education will issue a new document entitled, “Orientations For The Use Of Psychological Competencies In The Admission And Formation Of Candidates To The Priesthood.”

...According to a Vatican official consulted by CNA, the document “is intended to propose clear criteria for establishing an adequate balance between recourse to psychology and spirituality, in order to avoid falling into both a psychology that ignores sin and grace, and a spirituality that overlooks factors related to the human mind and affectivity.” (CNA)

Without going into details, I have heard that the use of psychology has been abused in seminarian formation programs in the past, and the Holy See has as one its top priorities ... fixing it, and quickly.

An update on Chase Hilgenbrinck

During the summer I did a story on Chase Hilgenbrinck, a brave young man who sacrificed fame and fortune on the soccerfield to discern a call from God. ESPN's page two visited him at seminary and published a story on what Chase has been up to lately.




Looks like he's doing alright.

What seminarians are reading: "Hidden Enemies of the Priesthood"

The author, I'm proud to say, is a teacher of mine.

From the Dominican Friars blog:

"If you want to know what seminarians are reading in their spare time these days, one needs to look at a book by Fr. Basil Cole, O.P. — a professor of Moral and Spiritual Theology at the Dominican House of Studies. His recent book The Hidden Enemies of the Priesthood has become something of a rage among seminarians around the country.

Recently, when preaching a retreat for seminarians from all over the country, Fr. Basil learned that many of them were not only reading but recommending to each other his book. He later learned that the former Archbishop of St. Louis, Raymond Burke, purchased and distributed copies for every seminarian in his Archdiocese. The publisher’s first printing of the book ran out some time ago, and it seems the second will do the same. In addition, Dr. Jeff Mirus of CatholicCulture.org gave a very favorable review of the book."

Br. James Brent, OP conducted a helpful interview with Fr. Cole, which I recommend reading. A sample:

What are some of the enemies of the priesthood that you discuss in the book?

Fr. Basil: Two major enemies come to mind: ignorance of the dignity of the gift of priesthood, and pride as the queen of the seven capital vices. Most spiritual authors and the Catechism of the Catholic Church teach there are only seven capital vices. Thomas teaches that the seven are lieutenants of the queen. Ignorance of the Queen as the “anti-form” (my terminology) of the vices tends to obscure the deepest enemy of the priest. He may think one or other is his problem but the real problem for all is pride, which governs as it were the other vices.

What are some of the remedies for these ills that you discuss?

Fr. Basil: Contemplation, humility, the prayer of petition done with humility, patience and persistence,together with mercy toward one’s peers and formators.

Read up, young men, and be assured of our prayers!

"Papal visit triggers “tsunami” of New York seminary applications"

The good kind of tsunami:

St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, New York, has received dozens of applications following Pope Benedict’s visit, the New York Daily News reports.

"It's been like a tsunami, a good tsunami of interest," said Father Luke Sweeney, the Archdiocese of New York's vocations director. “I've been meeting people all week and have a lot of e-mails I haven't had the chance yet to respond to. It has been incredible.”

The dire side:

For the first time in 108 years, the seminary had been preparing for a year with no students. Only 23 seminarians are expected to be ordained for New York City over the next four years. A study carried out by Catholic World Report claims the archdiocese’s ratio of priests to congregation members is among the worst in the country.

Hope:

“We were hoping the Pope would convince many who were considering the priesthood to make the next step. It looks like he did,” he said

“One said he came, saw the crowd, heard what the Pope said and then called us," the priest said. "He said his questions and concerns were answered when he heard him speak.”

Let's all pray for these brave young men.

Help an Eastern Rite Seminarian

I often get requests along these lines, but it's rare that someone has done the legwork to where it's easy for me to pass on their request. He's been accepted as a seminarian but needs to pay off his college debt.

• Real Clear Religion explains the situation
• The young man speaks on Catholic Exchange
• His website: http://www.helpmebecomeapriest.com/

If you don't feel able to help his financial plight, please keep him in your prayers.

A seminarian blogs his experience of the Papal Youth Rally

In his own words:

Due to the generosity of my bishop, I was able to attend the Youth Rally at St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers NY during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the USA.

I found this particularly amusing:

Here is a diagram to 1) give you a better idea of where I was and 2) put my stellar paintbrush skills on display. The yellow part is the buffer zone between the crowd and the Pope (there was actually Gold carpeting laid down here. The white at the top is the stage, and the white at the bottom is the gathering space.

Go visit his blog for the rest of his on-the-ground reporting!

Media: Vocations video from America's largest college seminary

St. John Vianney is the largest college seminary in the USA (150+ men). I have many friends studying there now. Some of the students and priests have just released a high-quality video introduction to "SJV":

Part 1:

Part 2:

Feel free to pass these vidoes along (with a tip to AmP, if you please).

More about the project: One of my friends tells me that it was put together over the course of this school year, to explain what a college seminary is and promote vocations, especially to men in highschool.

Funny Video: Deacon Payne - Seminary Formationator

Via The Whappsters (and others), "Deacon Payne - Seminary Formationator":



Of course, this is another permutation of Office Linebacker and it's Christian counterpart, Evangelism Linebacker.

Having attended for two years a school where seminarians were in formation, and having many seminarian friends, I can totally see a group of these guys getting together to make a video like this one. Very funny stuff. The part where the priest starts experimenting with some wacky liturgical innovations? Priceless!

The seminarians of Saginaw have a blog!

The fine guys who are studying to be priests for the diocese of Saginaw now have a blog of their own up and running.

Also, the diocese of Saginaw has a nice page up with pics and a report from this year's March for Life, which Bp. Carlson attended.

Here's a picture of him at the March. The fellow to his right is Chris, one of the Saginaw Seminarians. And in this picture you can see Rich, a good buddy of mine and also a seminarian of Saginaw.

They both recently became fourth degree Knights of Columbus, passing me up. Good men!