By Bishop James Conley
One of the greatest joys of a bishop is ordaining new priest-sons for his diocese. On Saturday, May 23, I will have the joy of ordaining Deacon Bradly Moss and Deacon Peter Foley to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Both Deacon Brad and Deacon Peter have been formed in the faith, first by their parents and family, and then through our Catholic schools. Both deacons attended Catholic elementary school (Saint Joseph and Saint Peter in Lincoln, respectively) and Catholic high school (Pius X in Lincoln).
Both deacons attended four years at our college seminary, St. Gregory the Great in Seward where they earned bachelor of arts degrees in philosophy. And both deacons went on to study four years at graduate theological seminaries (St. Charles Borromeo in Philadelphia and Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Md.), where they earned master of arts degrees in divinity and theology – 21 years of Catholic education!
In my new pastoral letter, One Heart in Christ, published last month, one of the four pillars or principles of our five-year pastoral plan for the Diocese of Lincoln is “Education.” The goal of Catholic Education goal is “to inspire virtue, service, and a thirst to know Jesus.” In that section I quote Pope Benedict XVI in his address to the American bishops in 2008 at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., when he told us that “a good school provides a rounded education for the whole person. And a good Catholic school, over and above this, should help all its students to become saints.”
While Deacon Brad and Deacon Peter are just beginning their lives as priests, their love of God and desire for holiness, in addition to being nurtured and encouraged in their families, was certainly supported, encouraged and formed in and through their Catholic education in the Diocese of Lincoln. I conclude that section on Education with these words: “by striving for virtue, service and a knowledge of Jesus Christ, we hope our students will fall into the arms of Love Incarnate.”
Another one of the four pillars of my pastoral letter is Religious Vocations. The primary goal of that pillar is to “support our clergy, religious and aspiring vocations as spiritual fathers and mothers so they experience being seen, known and loved.”
Another goal under Religious Vocations is to “create opportunities for the laity to deepen their understanding of the vocations of priesthood and religious life. Knowledge leads to understanding and the more we know about the work of our priests and religious, the better we can understand and address their needs.”
By doing the above, we hope “to promote a culture of vocations at the parish and diocesan levels to increase the number of priests and religious. God has blessed our diocese with vocations, and we have a great story to share. We need to make sure those who are being called are hearing that story.”
As we celebrate the gift of two new priests this weekend and pray for their pastoral ministry, we thank God for the blessings of Catholic education and the “culture of vocations” that He has allowed us to form in the Diocese of Lincoln.
Some of you have asked the question, “why are we not ordaining deacons this year, as we normally do on the night before priestly ordinations?” The Holy See issued new instructions on the ordinations of priests in 2016. The document is entitled Ratio Fundamentalis (The Fundamental Norms of Priestly Formation). It is the definitive document issued by the Holy See outlining the universal guidelines, structures and stages for the education and training of Catholic priests.
Each national episcopal conference was then asked to issue “particular norms” governing the formation and ordination of Catholic priests. This document entitled the Program for Priestly Formation, sixth edition, also known as the PPF6, applied the international norms of the Ratio Fundamentalis to formation in the United States, as established by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It became effective in the fall of 2022, with an implementation date of August 2023, and dictates how men are selected and trained for the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Let’s take a quick look at the PPF6. The document begins by laying four fundamental pillars of priestly formation.
The four “pillars” of priestly formation:
Seminary formation is an integrated, gradual process built on four interconnected areas of human and spiritual development:
Human: Developing emotional maturity, psychological health, and the interpersonal skills necessary to be a spiritual father and accessible leader.
Spiritual: Cultivating an interior life of prayer, a routine of daily liturgy, and a personal relationship with God.
Intellectual: Studying philosophy, theology, scripture, and Church doctrine to effectively teach the faith and answer complex moral or spiritual questions.
Pastoral: Training in the practical duties of a priest, such as homiletics (preaching), pastoral counseling, parish administration, and sacramental ministry.
Applying these four “pillars” of priestly formation to the educational plan for the training of seminarians, the document lays out four “stages” formation.
The four “stages” of priestly formation:
Under the sixth edition of the PPF, a seminarian’s journey is broken down into four sequential stages:
Propaedeutic Stage: A foundational period (typically one to two years) focused on intentional discernment, establishing a deep life of prayer, and emotional maturation. It often involves a simpler lifestyle and time away from regular studies to build fraternity and focus on vocation.
Discipleship Stage: Usually spanning two years, this phase deepens a seminarian’s philosophical studies and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Configuration Stage: The core theological phase where the seminarian is configured to Christ the Priest through intense academic study, pastoral work, and preparation for the sacraments.
Vocational Synthesis Stage: A transitional period outside the seminary where the candidate engages in active parish ministry before receiving priestly ordination.
It is this fourth “stage” of formation, the Vocational Synthesis Stage, where we find the answer to our question about the ordination of deacons. The Vocational Synthesis Stage envisions a period continuous time of no less than six months, where the ordained deacon spends a “transitional period outside the seminary” in which he can engage in parish ministry before he is ordained a priest. The Holy See envisions this time to be after the seminarian has completed his theological studies and returns to his home diocese to be ordained a deacon.
In other words, instead of ordaining deacons at the end of their third year of theology and giving them an assignment in the parish for the summer months, after which they return to the seminary to complete their studies as we have done the past, our deacon candidates will complete their theological studies at the end of the fall semester of their fourth year and return home to be ordained before Christmas. They will then be immediately assigned to a parish where they will serve for six months before being ordained priests at the normal time at the end of May.
This year, Jacob Knudson, Caleb Hanson and Cody Hein, will complete their theological studies in December and then return home to be ordained deacons at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ on Saturday, Dec. 19, and then be assigned to parishes until they are ordained at the end of May 2027.
With this new plan for priestly formation, we will be giving extra training and formation to the pastors who will be receiving the newly ordained deacons. These pastors will, in effect, become intentional formators for the new deacons.
Let me conclude once again from my pastoral letter, One Heart in Christ: “God has blessed our diocese with vocations, and we have a great story to share. We need to make sure those who are being called are hearing the story.”
