Inside the seminary
Inside the seminary system
There's something mystical about the call to the Catholic priesthood, that spiritual tug at the heart that, along with any discernment of God's will for us, the late Pope John Paul II called "a deep and fascinating endeavor."
But what about the institutions where that call is answered, nurtured and developed - the brick-and- mortar places that help shape candidates who carry forward Christ's priesthood?
A little background
The word "seminary" dates back to the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which sought to standardize priests' education so that all could be "on the same page," theologically and pastorally speaking. The Council mandated that every diocese erect a building to train new clergy, preferably near the cathedral where priests-in-training could apprentice.
In the U.S., in the 1800s, Catholic colleges for men were viewed not only as institutions for higher learning but also where the ground could be laid for those considering the priesthood, says Catholic historian Jay P. Dolan. In fact, Bishop John Carroll, founder of Georgetown University, said he envisioned that venerable institution as developing into "a nursery for the seminary."
In those days, it wasn't unusual for students in Catholic colleges or seminaries to be very young, Dolan says. (Georgetown's first student was 12 years old.) It wasn't until the modern U.S. public school system - with its hierarchy of elementary, high school and college levels - began to develop in the late 1800s that the concept of high school and college-level seminaries begin to develop, too.
In 1967 the U.S. boasted 36 diocesan high school seminaries, with 86 more run by religious orders. Today, with the closing of Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago this June, only one free-standing diocesan high school seminary - Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in the Diocese of Brooklyn - is still functioning. A handful of other high school seminaries either are "formation programs" run collaboratively with local high schools or are run by religious orders.
The closings reflect a shift in vocational trends, believes Father Mark A. Latcovich, chairman of the executive committee of the National Catholic Educational Association's Seminary Department.
"The culture itself played a big role," he says. "In the '50s and '60s, if you had a high school education, that was sufficient; people would go right into the workforce after that." The post-Vietnam era changed things, he explains. "Even dating back to the GI Bill (the post-World War II legislation that provided college assistance for returning veterans), young men who might have gone to seminary suddenly had other options."
Gradually the "age of commitment" - that is, decisions on career, marriage and family - started inching upward, Father Latcovich adds.
High school seminaries began to succumb to economic pressures: declining enrollment, mounting costs and fewer graduates going on to ordination. Father Latcovich's alma mater, Borromeo High School Seminary in Cleveland, was one of the casualties. It closed in 1976.
Minor? major? What does it mean?
As the seminary landscape has evolved, terms that might have meant one thing in 1957 mean something else in today's vernacular. "Minor seminary," for example, used to refer primarily to the high school seminary experience, but now refers generally to college seminaries where students with little or no college earn a bachelor's degree in liberal arts or philosophy and prepare themselves for additional formation.
Some college seminaries, like Mount Angel Seminary in western Oregon are termed "free-standing" - that is, accredited independently to grant a college degree.
Others collaborate with nearby Catholic universities. Students at Bishop White Seminary in Spokane, Wash., for example, attend classes at Gonzaga University while receiving their spiritual formation at the seminary, located near the Gonzaga campus.
Last year Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee announced that his archdiocese would keep St. Francis de Sales Seminary open for spiritual, pastoral and personal formation, but turn over academics to Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis. "To operate a seminary," he said, "is a towering expense.
At the highest level of study for the priesthood is the "major" seminary - also known as a theologate. This is where seminarians complete advanced studies in theology and also develop their pastoral skills. (Some college seminaries also have a theologate program, and candidates working on their undergrad requirements are said to be in "pre-theology.")
These post-graduate studies, along with summer assignments at parishes and clinical pastoral work at hospitals and other facilities, prepare candidates for the everyday challenges they can expect to face in ministry
Some dioceses may also elect to send a candidate or two to study at the North American College in Rome or the American College of Louvain in Belgium to earn a degree in canon law or other advanced studies
So who gives a school its ‘marching orders'?
No matter where it's located or how it's structured, every institution answers to the Holy See. The Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education has jurisdiction over all Catholic institutions of higher learning, including seminaries. As a result, it oversees the admissions requirements and curricula to ensure that candidates are properly prepared
In addition, since 1971, U.S. seminaries have adhered to the Program of Priestly Formation (PPF) promulgated by the U.S. bishops' conference and also approved by Rome.
Among other things, the PPF sets the norms for who is admitted and their general course of study. The current PPF is actually the fifth version of that document; last August a revised version of that document was released that, among other changes, toughened admissions standards and academic requirements.
The bishops who sponsor candidates to attend seminaries in preparation for working in their diocese also have some "powers of persuasion" on how seminaries are run, if only through their decision on where they send their students.
"We regularly receive visits from vocations directors and even bishops to check out the progress toward ordination and discuss aspects of the program with us," says one seminary administrator. "If they don't like something the seminary is doing, they simply will send their students elsewhere.
And what does the future hold?
The network of institutions offering formation for diocesan priests may have shrunk dramatically from what it looked like 40 years ago, but those remaining are by no means comatose; in fact, many are thriving.
Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, for example, has had such a demand for its bilingual formation program that it launched a major expansion and is completing a new residence hall to house 80 seminarians this year.
In 1999 the Archdiocese of Denver opened St. John Vianney Theological Seminary on the grounds of the former Vincentian-run St. Thomas Seminary, which had closed four years earlier. The new institution is affiliated with the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and is doing well.
Meanwhile, Sacred Heart in Wisconsin and Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass., continue to grow in serving a "niche market" - men entering the priesthood in their 30s and later.
Father Thomas Knoebel, vice rector and director of recruitment-admissions at Sacred Heart, says the average age of these so-called "late vocations" is 44
The school features "adult learning styles," such as expanded classroom discussion and take-home tests, and offers a formation program tailored to older candidates
The formula is obviously successful. Sacred Heart, which started focusing on older seminarians in 1972, is now the sixth largest seminary for the formation of diocesan priests in the U.S., Father Knoebel reports
Whatever the number or form of seminaries in the future, one thing is clear: their essential mission won't change
The late Pope John Paul II summed up their invaluable role in his exhortation "Pastores Dabo Vobis" ("I Will Give You Pastors")
"The seminary can be seen as a place and a period in life," he wrote.
"But it is above all an educational community: to offer those called to serve as apostles the possibility of re-living the experi- ence of formation which the Lord provided for the Twelve."