Seminaries report seeing fruits of discipleship, discernment in 'propadeutic year'

(OSV News) -- Seminary formation was already notoriously long -- at least six years -- and recently, an additional year has been added: the propadeutic year.

Yet few people are complaining.

As outlined in the Program for Priestly Formation, the document governing seminary formation that was developed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, the propadeutic year is the first year of seminary formation during which time formators lead men through human and spiritual formation.

"Discipleship is a lifelong journey of following Jesus Christ; this is certainly the case for the priest," the document states.

It explains that during the propadeutic stage of seminary, "the man is introduced to the life of the Church as a community in which excellence of character is nurtured, to the practice of daily participation in the Holy Mass, to love for Sacred Scripture, to the prayer of the Church (the Divine Office, or the Divine Praises in the Eastern Catholic Churches), and to the basic elements of the Christian faith as he discerns attentively and purposefully his potential vocation to priesthood in the presence of a supportive community of fellow seminarians and formators."

During this year, propadeutic seminarians usually live apart from other seminarians and have their own schedule to introduce them to seminary life and go through intentional formation.

Formators say that this year has been a huge benefit for men discerning the priesthood, providing these seminarians the time and space to intentionally discern God's call and grow in relationship with him before beginning their studies.

"Guys are entering into discernment more freely and more intentionally because of the propadeutic year as they are able to hear the call of God more clearly, whether it's calling them away from the seminary and saying, 'No, this isn't for me,' or whether it's calling them to continue and to move towards the priesthood," Father Kurt Young, vice-rector of propaedeutic formation and coordinator of human formation at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans told OSV News.

The newest edition of the Program for Priestly Formation -- released in 2022 -- outlined new instructions for seminarian formation, including mandating the propadeutic year. The propadeutic year sought to intentionally focus on two of the four dimensions of seminary formation -- human and spiritual. The other two dimensions, intellectual and pastoral, are introduced after this stage.

The document says that woven together, the four dimensions "can be seen as an 'integrated journey of the disciple called to priesthood.'"

"This integrated journey of discipleship is aimed at conforming the heart to the heart of Christ," the document explains.

"The propadeutic year is meant to focus on the human and the spiritual formation of the men, primarily to give a man a good, strong foundation in the human and spiritual life," Father Young said. "It is really to help build that prayer life with the Lord, that intimacy with the Lord, as well as a deeper understanding of himself, his own gifts, his own talents as a man."

Since 2022, most seminaries in the United States have implemented the propadeutic year and have seen immense success with seminarians calling it a great "gift".

"There was the fear that it's gonna be burdensome, or that guys are not going to like it or are going to complain about it," Father Young said. "But, this is now our third year. We've done it every year. Each class has said that this year has been a gift."

The propadeutic year looks different for every seminary and every diocese. The Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, opened a house of formation for college and pre-theology seminarians. When the propadeutic year was added, they sent those men to the house of formation.

"The propadeutic year allows us to shift focus for men, for them to come together in a community and to get accustomed to a new way of life," Father Chad Arnold, director of seminarians for the Diocese of Wichita, told OSV News. "Oftentimes, guys in their very first year of seminary come in thinking they know what seminary is. The first year is kind of coming to a deeper understanding of what the church actually expects from a guy during seminary."

Propadeutic seminarians in Wichita take introductory theology classes, learn how to pray Liturgy of the Hours, the form of the divine office most commonly prayed in the Latin Church, and receive spiritual direction. They attend Mass daily, and make a Holy Hour every day.

What makes the Wichita program unique, however, is that the men are also responsible for all of the household chores, including cooking, shopping, and cleaning.

"In our culture right now, there are so many struggles with the family," Father Arnold said. "We made a conscious decision to make our early seminary program less institutional and more familial. And in a family, you don't have a catered dining service; you don't have hired maintenance men to clean the house. It's your house and you live in it in a community. You take care of it. And all the problems that come up with that are formative."

At St. Paul Seminary in Minneapolis, the propadeutic seminarians live separate from the other seminarians at an old convent at a nearby parish. Father John Floeder, director of human formation and director of the propaedeutic stage program, told OSV News this allows the men to form an intentional community amongst themselves.

"We have a rhythm of prayer: Holy Hour every morning, Mass midday, evening prayer in the evening. And then a couple of days a week, I do Lectio Divina with them. We do a media fast. So no screens, no nothing except on Saturdays, so they can kind of detox," Father Floeder said.

This tech fast, he says, helps to remove much of the noise from the men's lives.

"The problem with all technology, all these things, is that guys can easily use them as a means of avoiding or numbing. I want my guys to actually have to feel their feelings and learn about their feelings, and learn about what it is to be sad or lonely, and then how do I deal with that in a positive way?"

Father Floeder also spends time helping the men to develop rich interior lives by introducing them to various methods of prayer, celebrating daily Mass and leading them in Lectio Divina -- a method of contemplatively and prayerfully reading Scripture -- and the Liturgy of the Hours.

"A lot of these guys are coming in who love the church, they want to serve Jesus. They've had an encounter with Jesus, but their prayer lives are still in the beginning stages," Father Floeder said. "We want to help them deeply encounter the Lord."

"I saw that as a great need, that guys need to learn how to pray deeply, because that's necessary for any Christian man, but particularly a man who is wanting to discern priesthood," he added.

While the spiritual and the human formation is important, a highlight for all formators is watching the seminarians embrace their new community.

"I love when you actually see them forming a community that allows them to be honest and just straightforward with one another. Sometimes that comes by the way in which they give correction. Sometimes that comes in the way of the vulnerability in which they share themselves," he said. "But when you can see a real community forming -- this guy, he's suddenly part of the community and you can see that shift take place and that's a beautiful thing to see."

Living in community allows the men to more intentionally discern the particular vocation Jesus is calling them to live as his disciples, and helps support their spiritual life.

"This environment accelerates vocational discernment," Father Floeder said. "The approach we take is to fall in love with the Trinity and let the Trinity love you. And in a relationship of love, that's where God's going to put on our hearts, what he wants for us and where he's calling us."

"It accelerates discernment because we are trying to live in a community here where we practice doing that, living in communion with the Lord and with one another," he added.

The propadeutic year is having tremendous impacts. Formators across the country have realized that this year of intentional formation and community building leaves a lasting impact on the seminarians.

"Every year I have three or four guys who do not continue on, but we honor them for good discernment," Father Floeder said. "Then the other guys are actually more convicted."

For those that continue on in seminary, their propadeutic experience is influencing the broader seminary community in a positive way.

"They bring that sense of community with each other into the greater community," Father Young said. "It's really been helpful in building up the seminary community as a whole."