We provide specialized formation. Accompaniment is our expertise.
With over 20 sponsors, diocesan and religious orders, we know how to actively listen and respond to the needs of bishops and religious superiors. We create an appropriate plan in dialogue with each sponsor that incorporates formation needs, the background of each seminarian, and the specific ministries they need to be prepared for. The Program of Priestly Formation in the United States of America, 6th Edition, (PPF6) emphasizes growth in holiness across four stages:
Propaedeutic Stage
“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NABRE)
Seminarians enter formation in the Propaedeutic Stage. This stage lays the foundation of the formational journey, emphasizing human and spiritual development. Men live in a community of discernment and accompaniment, apart from the seminary, for 12 months to two years. Adaptations for religious orders/novitiate programs, older seminarians, or permanent deacons discerning a priestly vocation, must be discussed in advance.
Begins Fall 2023 at Sacred Heart
CLICK HERE to read the Propaedeutic Stage flyer (PDF)
Home for Propaedeutic Stage:
The Dehon House, located on the campus of Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, is a beautifully renovated five-bedroom home that will be the communal living space for the Propaedeutic Stage. With two chapels, it provides an ideal space for discerners to grow in prayer, including, “scriptural meditation and the art of lectio divina” that are essential to this stage in formation (PPF 123).
Contact us today!
Deacon Steve Kramer, D.Min., Director of Recruiting: discerning@shsst.edu
For more information from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, please read the following PPF6 bulletins: Propaedeutic-Stage.pdf and Propaedeutic-Benchmarks.pdf.
Meet our men in the Propaedeutic Stage:
Discipleship Stage
“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NABRE)
Continuing to grow in relationship with Jesus Christ, seminarians move into philosophical studies. Through prayer and human formation, seminarians grow in the Christian virtues. The main goal of the Discipleship Stage is “growing in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the life of meditation and contemplation, as well as the training of one’s character in Christian virtue” (PPF 132). This stage is to last at least two years, continuing the discernment process of seminarians.
Please contact us for a conversation:
Deacon Steve Kramer, D.Min., Director of Recruiting: discerning@shsst.edu or 414-858-4767
For more information from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, please read the following PPF6 bulletins: Discipleship-Stage.pdf and Discipleship-Philosophy.pdf.
Meet our seminarians in Discipleship:
Configuration Stage
“… yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NABRE)
The Configuration Stage prepares men for Holy Orders, guiding seminarians in the sacrifice of self to be God’s shepherds. During the Configuration stage, seminarians are to be instituted to the Ministries of Lector and Acolyte, preparing more diligently for Holy Orders. They are to “enter profoundly into the contemplation of the person of Jesus Christ” (PPF 135) and integrate “the sentiments and attitudes of the Son, understood as self-offering for the pastoral care of the sheep” (PPF 136). There is also a focus on graduate level theology concentrating on the knowledge of scripture, the divine mysteries, rooted in the Magisterium, ecumenical practices, and priestly ministry (PPF 291).
Please contact us for a conversation:
Deacon Steve Kramer, D.Min., Director of Recruiting: discerning@shsst.edu or 414-858-4767
For more information from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, please read the following PPF6 bulletins: Configuration-Benchmarks.pdf, and Configuration-Theology.pdf.
Meet our seminarians in Configuration 1:
Meet our seminarians in Configuration 2:
Meet our seminarians in Configuration 3:
Meet our seminarians in Configuration 4:
Vocational Synthesis Stage
“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21 NABRE)
Upon completion of the Configuration Stage, seminarians enter in to the Vocational Synthesis stage. This stage “is a gradual realization of the cleric’s responsibility for the care of the souls while he resides full-time in a pastoral setting, usually a parish” (PPF 137). The goal of this stage is to gradually introduce seminarians (some as newly ordained deacons) to the daily experiences of priestly life and pastoral service. Ministering in their diocese or ecclesial entity, they apply the knowledge, skills, and spiritual development gained in seminary to ministry in God’s world. SHSST can work with sponsors on placements, benchmarks, rubrics, and training for supervising priests.
Please contact us for a conversation:
Deacon Steve Kramer, D.Min., Director of Recruiting: discerning@shsst.edu or 414-858-4767
For more information from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, please read the following PPF6 bulletins: VocationalSynthesis-Stage.pdf and VocationalSynthesis-Benchmarks.pdf.
Hispanic Ministry Preparation
In many of our sponsoring dioceses, half or more of the Catholics are Hispanic. Throughout the United States the number of Latino Catholics continues to grow, resulting in changing needs of the Church. Therefore, Sacred Heart offers a program in Hispanic ministry preparation which has been designed to prepare seminarians and other students for effective ministry in the diverse Hispanic cultures present in the U.S. Church today.
The Hispanic Ministry Preparation Program for seminarians reaches across the pillars of spiritual formation, human formation, intellectual formation, and pastoral formation.
Seminarians in the Hispanic Ministry Preparation Program will receive a course plan based on the expectations of the sponsor. Course plans may be modified as needed during the student’s time at Sacred Heart. Seminarians may also initiate enrollment into the program with the sponsor’s consent. Please contact the Director of the Hispanic Ministry Preparation Program, Fr. José González, at jgonzalez@shsst.edu with any questions.
The Hispanic Ministry Preparation Program is also open to non-seminarians.
PROGRAM COMPONENTS
Each seminarian enrolling in the Hispanic Ministry Preparation Program will be given one of three options depending upon the wishes of his sponsor, previous applicable course work, and the length of time the student will be at Sacred Heart. The vice president of intellectual formation and the director of the Hispanic Ministry Preparation Program must approve the selected option. Each successive option builds on the previous option. For example, option 3 includes all the requirements for options 1 and 2.
Option I: Introduction to Hispanic Ministry
1. PS 571: Hispanic Presence: Challenge/Commitment (Foundation)
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- Enrollment in options two and three presumes that the seminarian will use Spanish in future ministry as a presider, homilist, and/or pastoral agent. Sacred Heart offers four semesters of Spanish language designed to instill functional Spanish proficiency for Hispanic ministry. Seminarians enroll in the appropriate level depending on prior Spanish language study. In addition, seminarians are encouraged to enroll in an intensive summer language program outside the United States. The specific program is chosen in consultation with the sponsor.
2. PS 572: Hispanic Devotional Practices
Option II: Fundamentals for Hispanic Ministry
1. Pastoral Spanish Language Courses (LSP 570, 575, 580, 585)
2. Summer Language/Pastoral-Cultural Immersion
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- Enrollment in options two and three presumes that the seminarian will use Spanish in future ministry as a presider, homilist, and/or pastoral agent. Sacred Heart offers four semesters of Spanish language designed to instill functional Spanish proficiency for Hispanic ministry. Seminarians enroll in the appropriate level depending on prior Spanish language study. In addition, seminarians are encouraged to enroll in an intensive summer language program outside the United States. The specific program is chosen in consultation with the sponsor.
3. Pastoral Field Placement in Hispanic Community
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- The seminary requires eight credits of field education experience plus one basic unit of clinical pastoral education (six credits). Arrangements can be made to have all or part of the experience in Hispanic settings both in the Milwaukee area or the home dioceses. For seminarians unable to participate in an international language/pastoral-cultural immersion, there is an option for a domestic immersion experience. The student is assigned to a Spanish-speaking ministry within his diocese or province, to include 20 hours of ministry per week with a local language tutor, under the supervision of an approved mentor. This option could also receive credit.
Option III: Hispanic Ministry Preparation
1. LS 571: Presiding/Preaching in the Hispanic Community
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Students enrolled in this component are given the opportunity to acquire basic preaching and presiding skills for the celebration of the sacraments and other liturgical prayer experiences
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Pastoral Spanish Language Program
The Pastoral Spanish Language Program focuses on developing functional proficiency for pastoral ministry in Hispanic communities. To that end, the methodology of teaching Spanish concentrates on developing listening and speaking skills contextually by resequencing verb tenses and moods to enable students to begin conversing in the present context within the initial phase of the program. Pastoral projects challenge students to focus on applying grammatical structures and vocabulary in actual situations.
Continuing Formation
The PPF6 emphasizes that the priestly journey is a life-long journey. As part of SHSST’s emphasis on specialized formation, we offer programs for priests and religious to continue development across the four dimensions. Contact us; as part of our Lilly Pathways grant, we can tailor programs to your needs. Examples include:
• Annual Preaching Conferences
• Summer programs, such as the Toolbox for Pastoral Management
• Holy Land Archeological Expeditions
• Holy Week Pilgrimages to Spain
• Collaborations with the Pontifical Gregorian University
• Annual Dehon Lectures, named in honor of the Venerable Father Leo John Dehon
• The Lux Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies events
• English and Culture Studies (ESL) and Accent Modification
• Master of Arts for advanced study
• Sabbaticals
