(This Progam is no longer offered)
Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary is the Spirituality Year Program. In a setting removed from the main campus and its many demands, a small group of seminarians engage in the spiritual tradition of the Church in a manner more intimate and profound than that which is possible in the midst of ordinary seminary life. Presently, the Spirituality Year Program is being conducted at the former Mary Immaculate Seminary in Northampton, Pennsylvania. The purpose of this year is to help seminarians pattern their lives after the example of Christ, Head, Shepherd, and Spouse of the Church.
"If there is a masterpiece in this world it is the formation of good priests: nothing greater, nothing more important can be thought of"
St. Vincent DePaul, 1658
The Spirituality Year Program is an investment in the future providing the seminarian with a unique opportunity to interiorize his configuration to Christ Jesus.
The Spirituality Year will generally take place before the seminarian enters the Theology Division. It is mandatory for all those studying for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Seminarians from other dioceses are welcome to participate with the permission of their bishop.
Goals of the Program
- To form the seminarian in the Word of God with special emphasis on the cultivation of that sense of genuine interior silence necessary for intimacy with Jesus Christ.
- To form the seminarian in the Paschal Mystery through the liturgical life of the Church, namely: the common celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Liturgy of the Hours, and Eucharistic devotion.
- To aid the seminarian in developing interiorly those attitudes which are so necessary in a priest, such as joyful obedience, generosity and self sacrifice.
- To form the seminarian in humble living, in a spirit of realism about human sinfulness and the need for self denial and penance, especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
- To create an atmosphere of trust, which will encourage the seminarian to reflect openly on the serious obligations and challenges that are part of celibate living and of a free and irrevocable commitment to be faithful to Christ and to his Church.
- To help the seminarian appreciate the theological motivation for an asceticism of priestly celibacy based on the example of Christ himself.
- To aid the seminarian to have a filial love toward Mary, the mother of Jesus, and toward the Church as mother of the faithful, and a spirit of total service to the People of God.
- To lay the foundation for prayerfulness as the integrating focus of the theological studies and apostolic activity of the seminarian.
The Program
The Spirituality Year Program has intellectual and apostolic components, both of which are marked and conducted in an atmosphere of prayer.
The intellectual component consists of a series of conferences on:
- The foundation of Catholic Spirituality;
- Various schools of spirituality;
- How to pray the Scriptures;
- Discernment and prayer;
- The liturgical life and practice of the Church;
- Conversion and the penitential disciplines;
- The theology and spirituality of the diocesan priesthood;
- Human growth and development and the theology of celibacy;
- The inter-relationship of philosophy and theology
The apostolic component consists of apostolic assignments at hospitals, nursing homes, special education schools and specialized social programs.
The atmosphere of prayer is centered around the daily celebration of Eucharist and the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours. Three retreats are planned for the year. In addition, there are regularly assigned times for spiritual reading, meditation, Eucharistic holy hours and devotion to Mary.