Ongoing Pastor Formation
The Diocese recently completed a contractual agreement with Leadership Roundtable to guide us through a two-year program of Ongoing Formation that served as an orientation for new pastors and priests who were not yet pastors, and an opportunity for all priests to learn and develop in important areas of priestly ministry. Prior to this program, we had experienced a gap in providing an orientation program for newly-ordained and missionary priests, and we had a relatively large number who participated in the two-year program.
Moving forward, we will have smaller numbers of priests needing an orientation at any particular time, and we want to provide an orientation for each priest early in his priesthood or service in our diocese. We will take a two-part approach.
Each newly-ordained priest will attend a week-long program entitled, Certificate in Church Management for Men in Formation provided by the Villanova School of Business and designed for men in formation or in years 1-5 of priesthood, available each summer.
Each missionary priest who comes to our diocese will participate in an on-line program entitled, Certificate in Church Management, also sponsored by the Villanova School of Business. It is a series of twelve on-line seminars that is designed for those with priestly experience and also has a cultural component. It begins in September.
In addition to participating in one of these programs, the newly-ordained and missionary priests will also have sessions with diocesan personnel to provide an orientation to topics relevant to priestly ministry in our diocese.
While our newly-ordained priests and missionary priests will be required to attend one of these programs, all priests are invited to register and participate in the Certificate in Church Management on-line program as an opportunity for ongoing formation. Please let me know if you are interested.
For more information on the programs, including the topics covered in the on-line program, follow the link, https://www1.villanova.edu/