This past week I was on retreat at St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown. Once a year seminarians are required to make a retreat but for me this retreat was different. My retreat was what is known as a Canonical Retreat. This is a retreat required by Canon Law for those who are preparing for ordination. This May, God willing, I will be ordained a transitional deacon so this was my retreat to prepare for my ordination. This is just one of the requirements for those preparing for ordination. Today’s article I will discuss what happens leading up to ordination.
At the beginning of each academic year every seminarian prepares a set of goals for the year. The goals are set following the four pillars of formation found in Pastores Dabo Vobis; human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral. We look at the areas, usually with the help of our spiritual director, that we see as growth edges and then set one or two goals for each pillar. Once you’ve set your goals you meet with your faculty mentor, your representative to the faculty, and go over your goals and possible tweak them as needed.
Throughout the academic year the faculty meets and discusses your progress on your goals and present your mentor with feedback that he will discuss us during our monthly mentor meetings. These are often areas in which the faculty think you may need more growth, ways in which you can be more active in the community, or anything else the faculty thinks needs attention.
Once a year, at these faculty meetings, each seminarian is voted upon. For Third and Forth Theologians this happens early in the spring semester. This process starts with each seminarian writing a self evaluation. We look at the goals each of us has set and evaluate ourselves on how well we’ve met those goals. Once we submit that evaluation to our mentors, our mentors in turn write their own faculty evaluation. This is the evaluation that the faculty uses to vote on each seminarians moving forward through the formation process. Once you are voted on you sign your evaluation and that evaluation gets placed in your permanent file.
After your evaluation is complete and the faculty recommends your advancement then you have more paperwork to complete. For Third and Forth Theologians this means writing a petition to the Bishop asking to be ordained either a deacon or a priest, respectively. After this petition is accepted by the Bishop a letter is sent back to the seminary stating that there are no impediments, circumstances which would preclude ones ordination, and you receive your Call to Orders. This leads to even more paperwork!
When you receive your call to orders you must then make a series of oaths before the rector of the seminary. The first is a Profession of Faith. This is similar to profession of faith that we say at Mass with a few extra points added. The second is an Oath of Fidelity. This is your promise that you will be faithful to the teachings of the Church and that you will faithfully carry our the duties of your office, either deacon or priest. The final is a Declaration of Freedom. This states that the order to which you are called, either diaconate or priesthood, you are entering into under your own free will with no outside pressure or coercion. Once you make and sign these three oaths they are sent back to the diocese and you are then ready for the final step: ordination!
You can see that all of these steps show just how serious the Church takes the formation of her priests and deacons. There is a great deal of studies to help you grow intellectually, but there are those three other pillars, human, spiritual, and pastoral, which we focus on to help us grow and to be as prepared as possible for our future ministries. Now that you’ve got an insiders look at this area of formation I ask for your prayers for me as I prepare for ordination and for all of our seminarians and those men in discernment.
Father Edward Kennedy
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