Welcome
to Pastor Bonus Seminary
PRO OVIBUS SUIS
Pastor Bonus Seminary
Four Pillars of Formation
The seminary forms future priests by attending to their human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation, which are outlined in Pastores Dabo Vobis as the four pillars of priestly. These pillars, each having it’s own importance, are looked at as a whole, where by the seminarian continues to grow in all aspects of his person. Just as we see the fingers of a child’s hand grow in proportion to each other as he matures into manhood, so too we see the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral aspects of a seminarian grow into the maturity of a man ready to be ordained to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Formation
Human Formation
The basic principle of spiritual formation is “to live in intimate and unceasing union with God the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit” (PPF107). The spirituality of a priestly way of life is characterized by prayer, celibate chastity, mature obedience, simplicity of life and social justice in imitation of Jesus Christ. “For every priest his spiritual formation is the core which unifies and gives life to his being priest and his acting as a priest” (PDV, no. 45).
The purpose of Human Formation is to assist the seminarian in his task of becoming a man who reflects in himself, as far as possible, the human perfection which shines forth in the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. The human formation of the priest shows its special importance in relation to those who receive the mission for which he is ordained: In order that his ministry may be humanly as credible and acceptable as possible, it is important that the future priest mold his human personality in such a way that it becomes a bridge and not an obstacle for others in their meeting with Jesus Christ the Redeemer of humanity.
Intellectual Formation
Pastoral Formation
The main principle of seminary intellectual formation is that the seminarian is formed to seek an ever-deeper knowledge of the divine mysteries for the benefit of the salvation of those he will serve. As a disciple of Christ, a seminarian is one who learns not only about Christ, but about all things that will assist him in bringing Christ to others.
In pastoral formation, which is the culmination of the entire formation process, we see that not only should the whole formation have as its object to make the men true shepherds of souls after the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, teacher, priest, and shepherd, but also that the formation as a whole aims at preparing them to enter into communion with those whom they serve.
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
John 10:11
