SEMINARIAN FORMATION
Summertime Is No Time for Slackers
Seminarians spend valuable summer months developing maturity
of spirit—and cleaning bunkhouse latrines.
T
he winter term at Sacred Heart is over in late
April. Do you think a Sacred Heart seminarian
takes it easy all summer? Do you think he
lounges around all day in the sun sipping
lemonade with his feet propped up and a Jerome
Biblical Commentary on his lap for show?
This image is nowhere near the truth.
Each seminarian instead spends the
majority of his summer days involved in serious
formational activities designed to prepare
him to be an effective and mature priest. For
undergraduate and graduate students alike,
summertime is no time for slackers at
Sacred Heart.
Part of the summer “formation” for David Pellican, front, and Ferenc
Fehervari, far rear, included the hard work of re-shingling the bunkhouse
roofs at Camp Sancta Maria.
Institute for Priestly Formation
Beginning in late May, seminarians entering
their first year of theology embark on an
intensive ten-week spiritual formation program
at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
The program is run by the expert formators of
the Institute for Priestly Formation (IPF).
The seminarians spend the first eight days
16
MOSAIC
of the program in silent retreat, allowing
that still small voice of God to penetrate the
heart. Spiritual direction, classroom work,
and performing works of mercy in the local
community are also part of the curriculum. The
IPF program is meant to jumpstart a seminarian’s
entry into the demanding graduate school
program in the fall. It also helps him to discern
if indeed the Lord is calling him to continue on
the path toward priestly ordination.
Preaching “Boot Camp”
Prior to participating in the ISP program,
these same Theology I students spend the spring
term attending a Preaching Skills Workshop, or
“preaching boot camp.” For five days per wee