Apostolic visit of nation’s seminaries to ensure future priests will live faithfully, chastely, ‘for the Kingdom’
Imprimir Incrementar tamaño de fuente Disminuir tamaño de fuente

Washington D.C., Aug 26, 2005 / 12:00 am (CNA).- The U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference (USCCB) has announced that a Vatican delegation will begin an Apostolic Visitation of U.S. seminaries and houses of formation around the country, seeking to ensure proper training of high-caliber candidates for priestly and religious life. The Holy Sees’ Congregation for Catholic Education, along with the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life is organizing the effort, which will assess some 229 schools of theology, college-level seminaries, houses of formation, and academic institutions that form future priests.

Archbishop of Military Services, Edwin O’Brien, who is heading the visitation process, said he is “confident that this Apostolic Visitation will assist us in promoting the highest standards of formation necessary to bring forth qualified men for priestly ordination.”

The USCCB noted that the two-fold objective for the visits will be to, first, “examine the criteria for admission of candidates and the programs of human formation and spiritual formation aimed at ensuring that they can faithfully live chastely for the Kingdom;” and second, “to examine other aspects of priestly formation in the United States.”

“Particular attention”, they said, “will be reserved for the intellectual formation of seminarians, to examine fidelity to the Magisterium, especially in the field of moral theology, in the light of Veritatis Splendor (the 1993 encyclical letter of Pope John Paul II, ‘The Splendor of the Truth’).”

Monsignor Maniscalco, a spokesman for the USCCB committee on priestly formation, reiterated that the group will be looking at the intellectual and spiritual formation programs--especially in the field of moral theology--which will best help in preparing qualified, young men for the priesthood.

He told CNA that, while he believes that the nation's seminaries are doing a good job, as "with anything, we can always improve."

The Congregation, he added, will be looking at the criteria of formation programs which "help young men be faithful to the commitments of priesthood;" commitments, he said, which "can be very challenging."

The visits will be conducted by 117 bishops and seminary personnel appointed by the Congregation for Catholic Education.

The group plans to have completed the process by the end of the 2005-2006 academic year. The Apostolic Visitation is the first such effort to take place in

Imprimir Incrementar tamaño de fuente Disminuir tamaño de fuente
Subscriber comments:
Published by: Bob Terry
Brantford/Ont?Canada 08/27/2005 02:07 PM EST
I last heard of an Apostolic Visitation in respect to the homosexual activities in an Austrian seminary. As a result I think that the Bishop retired. You make it sound like a normal happening. I understand that no one wants an Apostolic Visitor because they are only sent when the Pope feels that there is something very wrong that the local Bishops are not handling.Is this your understanding? Is he not a legate with full powers of the Pope? How many other A.V.'s do you know of? Any in Europe's seminaries or universities? Please respond to my E-Mail address
Rate this comment:
ADD A COMMENT (Your e-mail will NOT be published):
NAME:
CITY/STATE/COUNTRY:
EMAIL:
COMMENT:
 
PLEASE ENTER THE SECURITY CODE DISPLAYED ABOVE:
Chars:
* Thanks for your comments. The number of messages that can be online is limited. Length should not exceed 1500 characters. CNA reserves the right to edit messages for content and tone. Comments and opinions expressed by users do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of CNA. CNA will not publish comments with abusive language, insults or links to other pages.
ADVERTISING
Place your ad here
Resources:
Columns:
News:
Documents:
Tools:
ACI Group:
ACI Prensa