Bishop Scott McCaig stood across from first-year seminarian Matthew Conner. They were not meeting in an office or a classroom but were facing off on a sand volleyball court. The ball came to Connor, he leapt up, and spiked it right at
During Lent, Pope Francis said, Catholics -- and especially Catholic seminarians -- should rediscover the joy of simplicity, pay less attention to their appearance than to their prayer lives and make a special effort to get along with everyone they live with.
Progress
If seminarians want to advance in their discernment and practice of religious life they must place the Eucharist at the center of their formation, Pope Francis wrote.
Making God the "cornerstone" of one's life "can only be achieved through adoration," the pope said
The only way to carry out the new evangelization called for by Pope Francis is to adopt the pastoral style of a compassionate, humble, patient and simple priest who walks at the same pace as his people, Cardinal Pietro Parolin told seminarians.
The first four African Americans to be ordained Catholic priests at St. Augustine Seminary in Mississippi in 1934 "stood tall in the midst of segregated times," said retired Bishop J. Terry Steib of Memphis, Tennessee.
"They were the men who stood tall, who
Divided into 35 small groups of 10-12 people ranging from cardinals to college students, synod participants spent the third day of the assembly sharing what they had discussed in their small groups in the previous days and listening to individual remarks made
Archbishop Coakley, who was the main celebrant at the ordination Mass, told the new deacons that in a divided church and in a society "hostile" to Christianity, Christians and their leaders must "prepare themselves not for privilege but for marginalization, for persecution
For more than 40 years, the seminarians at St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad have volunteered in what is now called Project Warm, which provides firewood to people in need in Indiana.
Seminarians can learn more from the way their bishops, rectors, spiritual directors and formators live than from what they say, Pope Francis said.
Noting the yearlong celebration underway dedicated to St. Joseph, the pope said all those responsible for the formation of new
Close to 30 masked men got off a bus at the Pontifical North American College Aug. 20, beginning a new student orientation that kept as many traditions as possible in a 14-day quarantine.
The seminarians, from 23 U.S. dioceses, were tested for COVID-19