Encouraging priests to be lifelong learners

Till the Bishops model this type of behavior, I believe there is little hope of Priests following suit.

A good thing. If pastors valued ongoing formation for themselves, they'd see their lay employees need it, too, and figure out how to help make that happen, despite tight budgets. As it is, professional formation is about the first to go when expenses need to be cut.

I really like the cartoon...seems to convey the importance of supporting our priests! While I have difficulty with some decisions made by priests, bishops, and the Vatican...and get a bit angry at times...I do try to remember the importance of being compassionate...Great article!

What a novel idea. Will there be tests/grades given? Will priests be penalized who fail the courses or fail to show up for the courses? Many priests have not read the introduction to the Roman Missal or other liturgical books. Can this be part of ongoinging priestly formation? Can something be done to improve the quality of the homilies that the faithful painfully have to endure during our liturgies???

"Six months after a priest’s ordination, the institute visits him and interviews his pastor and a parish staff members. Six months later, the priest is brought back to St. Meinrad to work on a personal growth plan."

Can this happen to every priest, i.e. a six-month or yearly evaluation by staff and/or parishioners?

The program from St. Meinrad looks great! My first pastor's answer to everything was, "I'll pray about it." My second pastor was so shy he only asked for the salt or pepper at dinner! I hadto search out older priests to advise me and "show me the ropes", as these two didn't have it.
The organized effort is the right way to go.

It would be interesting to have a baseline of sorts on the reading habits one might expect of a priest. The past three years I have averaged eight (8) books a year on contemporary theology, spirituality, church history. I am a "layman." I'll confess to being an avid reader, and a "B+" student who got an M.A. in Religious Education from Catholic University of America years and years ago tho my career path ended up being government.
I would expect as much of my priests just to keep current. For example: Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict and Jesus Today, A Spirituality of Radical Freedom, by Albert Noland, O.P., were back-to-back difficult reads, followed by the novel by Anne Rice, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. Good conversation starters in that trio.

personally I do find this an excellent idea ongoing formation of priests . often we find that many of our priests are out of touch with the reality of life , and for that reason it may well be comendable that the teaching is done by lay- persons who can carry some of their ownlife--experiences upon our clergy .Keep up the goood work with God's Blessings John Flipsen . Dcn

The US Military conducts Professional Military Education or PME for all officers at certain points in thier career. No reason the Church can't implement a similar program geared toward priestly formation.

One poster above, David Jackson, stated that our Bishops could use something like this, too. Not a bad idea, really. This is good for anybody.

I think the idea is great for priests. First, they do need to keep up-dated and be up-dated.

But secondly, priests need to get together with their brother priests to have their support as well. They are often so bogged down with their parish work, that to be with other priests, to talk, to laugh, to learn and, hopefully, to pray for one another, is so important.

I give this plan a vote of great confidence.

Maybe most of the ongoing development should be done in small groups together with their parishioners. We are all on this journey together and we are all seeking how best to listen to our God. I think we have had too much of separating the faith journey of the laity from that of priests. Sure priests need some time to share and learn from each other but if only the priests and hierarchy could realise that they are not the only ones on this journey we might all benefit.

It's great to suggest "ongoing formation" for clergy, but our American perspective can tend toward imagining only the "professional" aspect of the vocation. "Formation" implies an integration of several elements - not least of which would be ongoing spiritual renewal. Without this, an increase of book-reading will go only so far.

There's something distasteful about the word "formation" and its concept. It connotes an action by someone else to effect some change in oneself. Consequently, continuing formation seems to absolve the participant from taking an active role in self-development. The participant merely shows up and is checked off as "present" -- no other requirements, no other demands.

I think it's wonderful that priests can get together for a few days to cement their relationships and hear about their roles as perceived by their brother priests. But isn't that where the problem lies? As one of my good priest friends put it, "priest camp" involves so much navel-gazing.

If we want better prepared priests, why not think about a balanced course of study -- a real continuing education to replace "formation" -- where priests take actual courses for credit at Catholic institutions. While those of us who are mere laity have sought and participated in continuing education through courses in theology, psychology, and sociology, I am concerned that once the seminary theology courses end, any further formal theological education for priests also ends.

Perhaps placing priests in courses where ideas, discussions, and subject matter are addressed by a group that includes non-priests will help the clergy become more attuned to real life concerns and questions of those of us in the pews. Even more, it will help the clergy become more attuned to current thought in theology and to the writings of contemporary theologians.

It would be a great step forward to have more inclusive and expansive, as well as more intelligent, discussions instead of some of the dreadful parish discussion groups where the pastor simply pontificates.

As pastor, Ron Knott brought life back to a dying and decaying Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville, KY. If I remember, he served in this capacity for 14 years. He believed strongly in good liturgy, good music, and good preaching. He believed in parish inclusivity and reached out to everybody regardless of social status, race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. He was instrumental in creating the annual Festival of Faiths to highlight the various Christian and non-Christian religious traditions in the community. He was (in his own words) "consciously Christian, deliberately Catholic." It was not unusual for the congregation to applaud his sermons even though he asked us not to do so. Because of his progressive views, Ron was a regular target of pew spies who did not support the renewal called for by Vatican II.

Ron Knott grew up in a tough family situation in a rural area of the archdiocese. In high school seminary, a priest on the faculty suggested to Ron that he give up any hopes of becoming a priest, but Ron persevered. His first assignment after ordination (following studies at St. Meinrad) was pastor of a fledgling Catholic community in a heavily non-Catholic area in southern Kentucky where most folks were quite suspicious of the Catholic Church. Ron broke the ice there. If I recall, Ron lived in the church basement. Yet, despite being the only priest at this remote location, he managed to earn a doctorate in parish revitalization at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago!

Following a stint as archdiocesan vocations director, Ron went to St. Meinrad where he set up their pastoral institute.

The cathedral's website is http://www.cathedraloftheassumption.org .

Maybe there should be 'life long learning' for catholic school teachers. I know some that have not opened a book in 30 years. Then you wonder why young people avoid the church like it's swine flu

Judging by the quality of homiletics these days, the up-dating is necessary. What happened to the goals of the Synod on the Word of God? In most corporations, leaders would be fired if they delivered work projects as flimsy as homilies these days. Kudos to St. Meinrad's! A monastic community evaluating diocesan priests....

"As for the role of laypeople, “we need the support of the laity in our journey as priests as much as the laity needs priests for their journey,” said Maduzia."

I would certainly agree, if you include in the definition of "support" that priests also need the challenge and critique of laypeople...or add that to the comment. Priests get enormous support from laypeople most of the time; what they get little of is direct response when they are missing the boat with people as individuals, or, perhaps, more as a group. Clerical culture resists--tooth and nail--the direct response from people about what they don't understand. And there is quite a lot--as men and as celibate men--that they don't understand.

Mediocrity reigns supreme within the ranks of bishops. Let them be the first to embrace "continuing formation." And hanging around with other bishops will not help. Also, it seems that many of today's younger priests identify "continuing education" with a more intense reading of The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Many feel that the grace of ordination and the Catechism give them everything they could ever need.