The Spiritual Development in the Priestly Formation of the Catholic Church

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the theoretical backgrounds and practices for the spiritual formation which is one of various dimensions of the official process of the priestly formation in the Catholic Church. To accomplish this purpose, the Church’s official documents and other studies relevant to this subject were reviewed. The priestly formation is important task to accomplish the evangelization which is foremost mission of the Church. It includes such dimensions as ‘selection’ of the candidates, ‘seminary’ for the best place for the formation, and the ‘key persons’ for the formation. Also, there are four areas of the priestly formation, such as the human, the intellectual, the spiritual, and the pastoral. For the priestly formation, the human formation can be called as its foundation; the intellectual formation as its fertilizer; the pastoral formation as its aim; and the spiritual formation as its completion. The goal of the spiritual formation is to unify each candidate for the priesthood with Christ in propounded level. Two methodologies for the spiritual formation with which the seminaries have utilized in Korea are ‘Search for Christ’ and ‘Three Virtues of the Gospel.’ The programs of the ‘Search for Christ’ includes spiritual discourse, spiritual guidance, lectio divina, meditation of the Word, Eucharist, Confession, Horarium, personal prayer, silence, retreat, spiritual exercise, the Year of Spirituality, the Year of Spiritual Intensity. Cultivating such virtues as celibacy, poverty, and obedience are main foci for the programs of the Virtue of the Gospel.