Seminary to Introduce a Propaedeutic Year

Mount News

St. Joseph House

Seminary to Introduce a Propaedeutic Stage

FOLLOWING THE GUIDELINES of Pope Francis and the Bishops of the United States, Mount St. Mary’s Seminary recently announced plans to start a new program, a propaedeutic stage, for incoming seminarians. The propaedeutic stage will become the first year of seminary. Men in this program will live in a renovated wing of St. Joseph House, on the Daughters of Charity’s Emmitsburg campus.

“Propaedeutic“ (pronounced pro-pa-DO-tic) refers to a period of introduction or preliminary study before entering further studies. In the context of a seminary, the propaedeutic stage will provide men considering diocesan priesthood the chance to live in a community of faith, adjust to the rhythms of seminary life, and discern more deeply if this is truly their calling. The sixth edition of the Program of Priestly Formation, a document released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, outlined reasons for promoting, and general guidelines for, a propaedeutic stage in American seminaries.

Mount St. Mary’s Seminary hopes to begin welcoming men for a propaedeutic stage in the fall of 2023. Since there are so few of these programs available in the country, not all men will stay in Emmitsburg for major seminary. Some might merely come here for the initial year before attending the seminary that men from their diocese would typically attend. The seminary’s plan includes housing the men together in a part of St. Joseph House. The wing will be renamed Rother House, after Blessed Stanley Rother, S’63, the first American-born martyr. The program will focus primarily on helping students “unplug“ from the busyness of the world and develop a spiritual life before the demands of major seminary. Classes will focus mostly on teachings related to various methods of prayer and what to expect in seminary. Participants will attend Mass together, pray together, eat and live together—all with minimal technology, to better help them understand their vocation and adjust to a new way of life. The goal of the propaedeutic stage is not to provide more academic instruction, but to form priests who are more confident in their faith and convictions, more prayerful, and overall humanly prepared for their calling. “The program is not an academic year but an opportunity… for new seminarians to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ, come to a greater knowledge of the Catholic faith, and grow in character and virtue,“ noted Vice President and Seminary Rector Msgr. Andrew R. Baker, S.T.D. To that end, the sixth edition of the Program of Priestly Formation also addresses issues like pornography, addictions, family of origin issues and psychological problems. All of these can and do affect seminarians and priests, and another aim of the propaedeutic year is to screen potential seminarians for such hidden issues.

Through the propaedeutic stage, men interested in priesthood will have the chance to “pray together, work together, and grow together as brothers as they begin their journey of priestly formation,“ observed Baker. They can begin the process of discerning a call to the priesthood and having the Holy Spirit form their hearts to be future shepherds.

Big Project in Need of Big Hearts

The Seminary asks for support for this big project, which will help form better seminarians and priest. Generous prayers and contributions will be necessary from beginning to end of the project: seminary.msmary.edu/support