Discipleship Stage
Kenrick School of Theology
Following one or two years in the Propaedeutic Stage, a man advances to the Discipleship Stage. This period lasts two years and involves a deepening of formation. Men in this stage were already disciples of Jesus Christ prior to entering the seminary. Yet the distinct feature of this formation period is greater focus on one’s intimacy with God, growth in Christian virtue, and sharpened intellectual thought through the study of philosophy, thus deepening one’s discipleship with the Lord.
In this stage of formation, the habit of prayer becomes more stabilized, which allows a seminarian to know the promptings of God with greater familiarity. From this place of spiritual intimacy, a greater conviction for the priesthood should grow and a seminarian should be able to articulate his vocational call with greater clarity. In this regard, he grows in his ability to become a chaste spouse of the Church, to whom he is ordering his love and affection. Thinking more about the good of the Bride than of himself becomes a hallmark sign of a man’s maturation during this period of formation.
Additionally, men in the Discipleship stage gain greater exposure to the Church’s pastoral outreach to the disadvantaged. Working with the poor and underprivileged should become a habituated form of service for such seminarians. They should also demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively with others, including with women in authority and in peer situations (PPF, 374).
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In Discipleship, external discipline gives way to interiority, and the seminarian begins to take ownership of his formation. Responding generously to grace and motivated by rightly ordered desires, he develops moral virtues and psychological strengths, integrating his self-awareness “into a desire to grow in affective maturity” (PPF 6, no. 193).
“The disciple of Jesus is a person who is free to be who he is in God’s design,” free because he is ‘moving with God’ out of ignorance, error, and self-defeating habits of thinking, desiring, feeling, and behaving (PPF 182).
Components of Human Formation in the Discipleship Stage include:
Community Living
Formation Meetings
Counseling and Groupwork
The Formation Agreement
Fraternity Days
Jesu Caritas Groups
Formation Conferences
Leadership and Mentoring
House Jobs
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“The seminarian is called ‘to live in intimate and unceasing union with God the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit.’ This is the foundational call to discipleship and conversion of heart. Those who aspire to be sent on mission, as the apostles were, must first acquire the listening and learning heart of disciples. Jesus invited these apostles to come to him before he sent them out to others” (PPF 6, no. 226, quoting PDV no. 45).
Components of Spiritual Formation in the Discipleship Stage include:
Spiritual Direction
Days of Recollection
Annual Silent Directed Retreat
Annual Pilgrimage
Lectio Divina
Marian Devotion
Sunday Parish Assignments
Saturday Mass
Other Devotional Practices
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“Disciples are learners” (PPF 6, no. 263).
“The study of philosophy is not just part of intellectual formation but is also connected to human, spiritual, and pastoral formation. Issues about priestly identity and the apostolic and missionary dimensions of priestly ministry are ‘closely linked to the question about the nature of truth.’ Philosophy serves ‘as a guarantee of that certainty of truth’ which is the only firm basis for a total giving of oneself to Jesus and to the Church” (PPF 281, quoting PDV 52).
Spanning two years, the philosophical curriculum proceeds through two overlapping and complementary tracks: historical and systematic.
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Men in the Discipleship stage learn to receive affirmation and correction, to develop listening and conversation skills, to collaborate, to take initiative, to exercise leadership, to practice conflict-resolution, and to care for others.
“The whole formation imparted to candidates for the priesthood aims at preparing them to enter into communion with the charity of Christ the Good Shepherd. Hence, their formation in its different aspects must have a fundamentally pastoral character” (PDV , no. 57).
Features of the Pastoral dimension of the Discipleship Stage include:
Modules of apostolic service
Service to the Poor through meal programs and soup kitchens
Religious Education in Parishes (PSR) through individual parish assignments