Before diving into philosophy and theology classes, men entering the seminary will now spend a yearlong preparatory period focused on prayer, fraternity and character development. As of this year, a diocesan priest, Father Daniel Hanley, is leading the efforts to establish the propaedeutic stage program at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., where the Arlington diocese, as well as several nearby dioceses, sends many of their seminarians for formation.
Before starting at Mount St. Mary’s, Father Hanley taught at the North American College in Rome, then worked at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as the associate director of the Secretariat of the Committee for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. During that time, the USCCB was creating particular, or national, law based on a directive from the Holy See about seminary formation. The Program of Priestly Formation, Sixth Edition, promulgated last year, included the requirement for a propaedeutic, or preparatory, stage.
After that year, seminarians will study philosophy — for a length of time that varies depending on their level of education prior to seminary — followed by four years of theology. Some might also take a pastoral year for more hands-on ministry work. In the future, men will be required to spend time as transitional deacons in the parish before being ordained priest. They will leave the seminary to be ordained as deacons at home and then serve in their diocese for some time before they become priests.
Though the propaedeutic stage will be implemented on a much wider scale than before, the concept is not a new one, said Father Hanley. Decades ago, Pope John Paul II recommended the propaedeutic stage, and several U.S. seminaries already include it as part of their formation. Father Hanley went through what was called a spiritual year while he was studying for the priesthood at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa. “I don’t know where I would be in my priesthood without it,” he said. “During that year, I gained the habit of prayer, the habit of living with the Lord in intimacy each day. I discovered a lot about myself.”
Starting this fall during the propaedeutic year, seminarians at Mount St. Mary’s will live in the Blessed Stanley Rother House, formerly a house of formation for the Daughters of Charity. They’ll eat, pray and do chores together. They’ll play sports, spend time in nature and explore local historical sites. They’ll serve the poor and elderly. They’ll attend seminars and retreats. The seminary website noted that the men will learn more about “time management, and how to maintain physical and emotional health.”
One component of the year will be a digital detox. “(They’ll) really live a life that’s not mediated by electronics,” said Father Hanley. “The idea is to step away and engage life and relationships in a more in-person way. You become less dependent on electronics for your recreation, you open yourself to become more focused on others and then you gradually begin to use electronics again but you do it in a way where you’re using it, it’s not using you.”
Father Hanley says he sees the church’s wisdom in this widespread initiative. “From the perspective of a priest who works in seminaries, I think (the men) need it, maybe more than ever,” he said. “What was noticed by the Holy See is that there’s really an unevenness considering where guys come from. (Each seminarian will learn) what should be expected at this stage in his life in terms of capacities for relationship, for work, to be self-starting, (for) self-care, things like that. You have a guy for example, who may not know the Catholic faith that well or the Bible that well. That’s one of the things we’re going to do this year.
“Guys can be coming from various family situations, with backgrounds and habits that they have that aren’t always good for them. A very simple thing, a lot of guys grew up without a family meal. It doesn’t mean they’re not wonderful men, it just means they’ve never had that experience of common table. That’s a big deal,” he said. “(They’ll be) detoxing from some of the cultural influences that we don’t even realize have hit us from the massive amount of information that comes at us through media and the hypersexualized culture.”
But more than stripping away the negative influences, it’s about exposing the men to positive ones, said Father Hanley. “This is about opening men to goodness — the goodness of God, the goodness of who they are as a man and the goodness of their brother — so that when they leave this year, they’re ready to put out into the deep and discern their vocation in a very serious way.”
