Part 2 – Forming the Man: The Propae-dudes

Propaedeutic (proh-pe-doo-tik) is a term to describe preliminary instruction. The word comes from the Greek pro, meaning “before”, and paideuein, meaning “to teach”. This stage is an introduction to the seminary community, to the surrounding diocese, and to the formation process. The Program of Priestly Formation states that this stage should lay a foundation for a new way of life by developing a life of prayer, study, fraternity, and appropriate docility to formation and should last a minimum of 1 year to a maximum of 3 years. This stage – in fact every stage – centers on intense vocational discernment being made within a community.

Every community is led by a priest called a formator who lives in the same house as the seminarians. This formator helps the seminarian recognize his own strengths and weaknesses and challenges him with specific areas of growth. In fact, it is the team of formators that is trusted with the final decision of approving the seminarian’s advancement through the stages and, ultimately, his ordination to Holy Orders. However, the size of each community must be limited. When Fr. Chad was in seminary, he lived on-campus in a dorm-style building with 150 other men from numerous other dioceses. With a community that large, it becomes easy to remove yourself without notice or avoid others you don’t like. When living in a small community, clashes of personality and lifestyle always occur, and they help the men to mature and grow in patience and understanding of each other. Without this form of community life, most of the effect of seminary formation can be lost.

Housing up to 12 men, the Nazareth House in central Phoenix is the place of introduction for living in community. Whether working towards an associate’s degree or finishing a degree at ASU or GCU, these men will stay anywhere from one semester to two years in this house praying, working, studying, and growing together and prepare for the culmination of the propaedeutic stage: Spirituality Year. The men in their spirituality year reside at Our Lady of Perpetual Help House in Scottsdale. This next location increases the intensity of discernment with a community-wide fast from media and entertainment. Without access to smartphones, social media, television, movies, or videogames, the mind and soul have the space to quiet down from the overstimulation of a screen-filled world. The propaedeutic stage, and this year specifically, is built to foster the daily disciplines for life-long learning and spiritual growth. A normal day for these men would include: an hour of Eucharistic adoration, daily Mass, recreation, house chores, spiritual reading, communal and individual prayer, and a couple hours of classes. These classes are not for completing credits but to stimulate the desire for learning. This community life of work and prayer and the emphasis of quiet loosely reflects that of a monastery and prepares the men to enter more fully into discerning God’s will for their lives.

There are two major milestones that occur during the spirituality year here: the pilgrimage and the poverty immersion. This past May, the current spirituality year class walked El Camino Real, the path between the missions established by St. Junipero Serra in California. For three weeks, they walked from San Diego de Alcala to Santa Barbara, and stopping at five other missions in between. During the month of June, the men are sent in groups to work in different poverty ministries in the diocese. During my own poverty immersion, I was sent to work with a homeless ministry in Kansas City in January with only $50, my Bible and Breviary, and two changes of clothes. Living in a poverty situation and going to serve the homeless in their camps in the middle of winter taught me how to trust in God’s protection and providence. Both of these milestones help the men to experience aspects of the life of Christ: the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. (Mt 8:20)