full stature in Christ, but it becomes clear
to them that God is not calling them to
become priests.
Practically, how do men discern and
how does the Church discern? A double
discernment takes place in the seminary.
The seminarian looks through his experi-
ence of prayer, of service, of common life,
of classes and of relationships to see if the
Law of the Gift is being fulfilled in him
and to see if Christ continues to call him.
At the same time, the man’s family, his
parish, his bishop, the seminary forma-
tion team, the faculty, his classmates and
many others are looking to see the signs
that the man, as he grows to full stature
in Christ, is becoming someone who can
live out the graces of priestly ordination.
Seminarians meet every month with
their formators and twice a month with
their spiritual directors to speak about
their discernment. The formators and
spiritual directors have seminary guide-
lines which assist them in knowing wheth-
er a man is ready to move on in his forma-
tion to the next year. Those guidelines are
based on a very practical and wise docu-
ment produced by the United States bish-
ops called the Program for Priestly Forma-
tion. That document is based on directives
from the Vatican, especially Pope St. John
Paul II’s Pastores Dabo Vobis. Pope Francis
directed the completion of a long-term
project to renew priestly formation and
that project led to a new Ratio Fundamen-
talis, which gives fundamental directives
for priestly formation in the future. The
American bishops and their coworkers are
now working on a new edition of the Pro-
gram for Priestly Formation which will follow
the directions given in the new Ratio.
So, the entire Church is constantly dis-
cerning what is needed to form priests.
That discernment guides the man’s dis-
cernment as well as the discernment of
the seminary community, especially cen-
tered in our rector and vice rector. Each
year, the man’s progress is reviewed to
see if he is ready to move on to the next
year’s goals and objectives. Those goals
and objectives make clear the expected
growth that needs to occur in a man. At
times, a man who still feels called to the
priesthood will leave formation to pur-
sue his maturation in Christ outside the
seminary. When that maturation takes
place, he may apply again for admittance
to formation.
DISCERNMENT IN THE CONTEXT
OF SACRED HEART’S LIFE
A very important moment in the for-
mation of our process of discernment
happened following the abuse scandal
in 2002. Following the publication of so
many articles about the failure of priests
to live out their call to holiness as celi-
bates, people asked the perennial call of
God’s people when they are concerned
about the Church: just what are they do-
ing at the seminary? It is a tremendously
valuable question which needs to be
asked often, and which needs to be re-
sponded to thoughtfully.
Part of the concern several years ago
was that several of our priest alumni had
left the active ministry after ordination.
A committee of lay and priest faculty was
formed. After prayer and study, the com-
mittee asked two questions: what could
Sacred Heart have done better to help
men discern their vocations? What could
the seminary have done better to prepare
men for the demands of parish life?
The responses to the questions led
to two convictions: 1) we needed to do
more to help the men discern their vo-
cation as a call from God; 2) we needed
to do more to help the men grow in the
strengths and habits (virtues) to live the
sacrificial service of the priesthood with
confidence.
To help the men better discern their
vocation from God, we implemented two
changes: 1) a more consistent approach to
celibacy formation and 2) the opportunity
of making a thirty-day Ignatian retreat. The
committee studied some fine programs of
celibacy formation from other seminaries
as well as our own program of formation.
As a result, the seminary implemented an
approach in which ten core components
of priestly celibacy were identified. These
components are studied, taught and dis-
cussed in each of the three levels of forma-
tion: College, Philosophy, and Theology.
In addition, the content areas are taught
and reflected upon in the different forums
of seminary formation: the classroom, rec-
tor’s conferences, Saturday Formation ses-
sions, spiritual direction, and individual
formation sessions.
After the Desert Formation Program
in First Theology, the men are given the
opportunity to make the long Ignatian
retreat at the Broomtree Retreat Center
in South Dakota. During First Theology,
the men meet with me to review a list of
readiness indicators. Not everyone makes
the retreat, but most of the men do,
and it is wonderfully helpful in discern-
ing God’s call. For some men, the con-
firmation of their call comes in a single
identifiable moment, which seems unde-
niably true for them. For others, in the
tranquility of the retreat, the man’s call
is confirmed in a more gradual way. As
a result, by this time in their formation,
most men have their vocation confirmed,
but to some, God makes clear that He is
calling them to serve Him in a way other
than the priesthood.
The second change in our program was
to help men be better prepared for the
demands of priestly life. As one formator
told me, “The men need to pray, but they
also need to have the virtues to sustain
their service.” So, with leadership provid-
ed by the vice rector, Father (now Arch-
bishop) Mike Byrnes, the seminary began
a more systematic process of assisting the
men in identifying the particular virtues
or habits which they needed to develop.
Sacred Heart’s work in this area has been
recognized by the Seminary Formation
Council (SFC) in Boynton Beach, Flori-
da. Leaders from the seminary have been
asked to present on virtues formation in
the SFC’s certificate program for external
seminary formators in Boynton Beach.
Our cornerstone announces that God
will give shepherds after His own heart.
Part of becoming a shepherd for the
Shepherd involves listening to Jesus’s
call to follow him. That call leads to the
further calls to discern the state of life
in which we are to live the vocation to
love, and the call to serve in the ordained
priesthood. We are blessed to have hun-
dreds of students come each year to Sa-
cred Heart following the Shepherd and
discerning his call.
Msgr. Daniel Trapp is spiritual director and
associate professor of systematic theology at
Sacred Heart, and is pastor of St. Augustine
and St. Monica Parish in Detroit, Michigan.
shms.edu
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