Seminarian Joseph Toledo prays during the morning Mass at the Redemptoris Mater House of Formation Roman Catholic seminary in Denver.
Posted on 08/29/2009 1:37:21 PM PDT by NYer
DENVER — The seminarians' wallets are empty, except for driver's licenses and insurance cards. To buy cigarettes or clothes or anything else, they must ask their superiors for money — an exercise in obedience and a reminder that material things aren't important.
They have virtually no time alone, on or off campus, and are required to travel in pairs, "two by two," like Jesus' disciples. They live in a world without cell phones or personal computers, and their evenings end promptly at 10.
No Roman Catholic seminary is a resort. But few men who study for the priesthood endure the sort of rules that govern life at the Redemptoris Mater House of Formation.
Redemptoris Mater is a new experiment in molding Catholic priests who are faithful to church teaching and authority, and zealous in their desire to lead other Catholics down that same road.
On the one hand, the rules are a throwback to 50 years ago, when would-be priests led regimented existences apart from the rest of the world. But Redemptoris Mater men also teach the faith at parishes and spend two years on mission trips, knocking on doors looking for Catholics in Bronx housing projects or Minneapolis suburbs.
The rules "are difficult to get used to, but it's because we come from this very individualistic society, where it's just me," says seminarian Joseph Toledo. "Those things have to be torn down. But it isn't like we're living in a bubble, either."
Toledo is the 29-year-old son of a Puerto Rican cab driver, and is one of the few American-born seminarians on the rolls in 2008-09. All told, there are 33 students from 14 countries.
In this, they reflect the changing face of the U.S. priesthood.
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
Pope Benedict XVI is fond of quoting a Benedictine motto: “Succia virecit”. Pruned it grows again.
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
I like that! He must have forgotten the account of Jesus cursing the fig tree that did not bear any fruit ;-)
Thanks for posting this. There have been a lot of people posting errant information about the Church and seminaries and priests in general during this Kennedy thing.
This is one of the liberals’ fundamental problems; refusing to recognize virtue in self discipline.
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"It's important to have a time in your life in which you experience that it's possible to live without TV, that you don't need the Internet. It's possible to overcome temptation, to have a celibate life, a chaste life. The society presents you these things as impossible. So if they're impossible, you don't even fight it, you say, 'What the heck?' The culture is always pressing, pressing."
I agree with this. These men aren't always going to live the way they are in the seminary. However, they will have proved to themselves that they don't have to believe what the world tells them, because they've already done what the world says is "impossible."
Then, in addition to being faithful to their own vocations, they can tell the laity that they, too, can do what the world says is impossible or unrealistic.
It sounds to me like this seminary is a tough “boot camp” type of environment.
It might be so tough as to weed some men out, but, that happens in the military boot camp.
This type of training may make them stronger as a result.
From what I hear, elite military units such as the Navy Seals or Army Delta Force have their own boot camps, and they are much more stringent than the regular boot camps that the applicants have already gone through.
So this sounds to me as if they want the strongest possible priests to emerge from their training, just as the Navy Seals are an elite group of Navy men. Not every sailor can survive Navy Seal training, just as not all men will last through this priest training. But, those who do emerge will be the strongest possible priests.
But they bow to the shirne of fatso teddie.
The Cardinal of Boston attended the mass but was not the celebrant.
That's a good comparison.
The article also mentioned that a number of the seminarians come from poor countries and have no experience with American life. This type of progam helps them adjust.
Now, RoshYisrael, if you want to talk about the 77% of Jews who voted for Obowma, have at it.
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