Seminaries, Theologates, and the Future of Church Ministry
Imbelli, Robert P.
Robert P. Imbelli Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, has taught at Saint Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie and the Maryknoll School of Theology. He currently teaches theology...
...As one perceptive observer has characterized a too prevalent attitude: "We want ammunition, not ideas...
...q~est everything," the earliest New Testament writing admonishes...
...What does it mean, in America of the twenty-first century, to confess Christ as the measure, to "prefer nothing to Christ" (as The Rule of Saint Benedict enjoins), to experience in Christ the recapitulation of all God's hope for humanity...
...he agenda item that received no press coverage at the November 1999 General Meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops may, in the long run, be the most important for the future of the Catholic church in the United States...
...Were that statistic not sufficiently bleak, it is further depressed by the fact that the overall number of students includes a significant number from outside the United States who will return to their own countries upon completion of their studies...
...Let me then suggest some dimensions of that wider reflection by drawing upon two striking assertions in Appleby's essay...
...Since the 1989 study was completed, seven seminaries have closed and the number of seminarians has declined by more than eight hundred...
...Nonetheless, tensions do indeed exist and can, unfortunately, surface even in Commonweal 2 4 February 11, 2000 connection with the eucharistic celebrationthe supreme irony of the sacrament of unity become occasion of division...
...Spiritual direction is available, and days of recollection are regularly scheduled, as are longer retreats...
...In its absence, fragmentation too often reigns...
...Clearly, in this as in so much else, seminaries mirror the present reality of the church and cannot be expected to resolve all the issues, absent a wider ecclesial consensus...
...Though there are many talented and capable students studying for the priesthood, others show marked weaknesses that seminaries must address...
...There are several, often interrelated, factors operating here...
...The document clearly reflects Vatican II's rich understanding of church, its new appreciation and commendation of the role of the laity, its openness to other religious traditions and to the social and cultural context in which the gospel must be embodied...
...But this Catholic Christological and transformative imagination must be continually rekindled and renewed...
...My point is not to claim that there are no signs of hope, but to urge that, given the depth of the cultural challenge to Catholic habits of mind and heart, only profound spiritual detachment and discernment can even begin to identify the real issues...
...9 Fourth, some of the polarization undoubtedly concerns the roles of women in the church and the pressing need for collaboration among ordained and lay ministers...
...ne finishes Schuth's study, then, with appreciation both for the real accomplishments of seminaries and for the acute challenges they face...
...Absent a critical mass of students, the most impressive programs risk languishing...
...The item in question was a report of a subcommittee on lay ecclesial ministry which was permitted one-and-a-half hours of agenda time (a largesse almost unheard of during the annual business meeting) to report its conclusions regarding the state of lay ministry in this country...
...Later in his essay Appleby hazards a prognosis that gives further pause...
...The intramural squabbling and partisan agendas of the past thirty-five years have often inhibited the discerning engagement with the culture that is imperative for a community of disciples called to be salt and light...
...even "The Crisis of the Bishops' Conference...
...Their pursuit of an advanced degree is a sign of their seriousness about their vocation...
...9 Third (and linked to some degree with the previous point), one not infrequently encounters polarization among students and between students and faculty...
...n 1989, Sister Katarina I Schuth published a pioneering study of Roman Catholic seminaries and theologates, Reason for the Hope (Michael Glazier...
...It drew upon the experiences of the preceding years and was greatly influenced by Pope John Paul II's apostolic exhortation Pastores dabo vobis, his reflections on the 1990 synod of bishops dedicated to priestly formation...
...While some of the elements underlying the uncertainty are treated in part 4 of the study, they are primarily framed in ecclesial terms (a perspective both understandable and consonant with the focus of the study...
...Retain what is good...
...And what were those questions and concerns...
...She is now a senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University...
...In it she provided valuable information and assessments regarding the efforts of Catholic institutions for ministerial formation to respond to the directions charted by Vatican II...
...Though the study attends to lay students enrolled in theologates, its main focus is seminarians preparing for the priesthood...
...Rather, the church will be engaged by a far more profound and disturbing crisis of belief and meaning...
...He was preparing a meal for the lay students due to arrive at the appointed hour...
...Dolores Leckey (Continued from page 23) hospitals, and in jails...
...The book has four parts: The first provides an analysis of the current social and ecclesial context from which church ministers come and in which they must serve...
...A lack of basic intellectual and cultural formation often forces seminary professors to engage in remedial work...
...Schuth, or members of her team, visited thirty-eight of the forty-two U.S...
...A relatively brief part 4 addresses "The Future," organizing its reflections under two headings: "Perceptions about Church and Ministry" and "Perceptions about Priesthood...
...Some seminarians complain about this, arguing that the professors are slowed down...
...9 Second, joined to the declining seminarian population is the phenomenon (by no means unique to seminaries...
...It is not surprising, then, to hear Schuth report: "Rectors/presidents listed the recruitment of both seminarians and lay students as a more critical and more problematic responsibility than any other that they face...
...The challenge cannot be remanded solely to rectors and presidents...
...In this light the recent and, I would add, courageous Commonweal Forum, "The Crisis of Liberal Catholicism" (see Commonweal, November 19,1999), might, with great profit, be complemented by others...
...Part 2 ("The Mission and Members of Theologate Communities") and part 3 ("Formation Programs") focus on the present realities of the seminaries, conscious that the observations capture but a moment in the life of "dynamic and vital institutions, always engaged in change and modification...
...In her conclusion, Schuth writes a line that captures much of the tenor of her study...
...One exception was the Franciscan School of Theology, where I was invited to a meeting to listen to the students' ideas about their needs and what might be done...
...A growing absence of intact families and of affective rootedness can lead to unrealistic demands being placed on relations with faculty and peers or, conversely, eventuate in a distrustful isolation...
...Nor were they prepared to pass on to the younger generation a synthesis of old and new Catholicisms, old and new Americas, that they themselves had not achieved...
...Then the full scope of the Decree on Priestly Formation might begin to be realized: Optatam totius ecclesiae renovationem, "the renewal, so greatly desired, of the whole church...
...He stated his conviction that unity in the church would be dependent upon "a rediscovery of the centrality of Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life...
...As a result, no comprehensive pastoral and theological "synthesis" (to use Appleby's word) has emerged that cogently weds creativity and fidelity, diversity and unity, America and Catholicism...
...When asked bluntly whether she remains hopeful, Sister Schuth responds with an unequivocal "yes," but adds: "The reasons for hope have altered somewhat and new problems now confront us...
...Now, a decade later, in her new study, Schuth reviews the current state of these institutions...
...To be sure there were a few bishops (newly ordained for the most part) who questioned the appropriateness of the term ministry in connection with lay service or employment...
...The friar-chef was Kenan Osborne, O.F.M., then president of the Franciscan School of Theology, and more recently the author of Ministry (Paulist Press, 1993), a comprehensive history of the laity and lay ministry...
...Arriving a bit early, I knocked on the door of the Franciscan residence, and was greeted by a smiling friar, wrapped in an apron, waving a chopping implement with which he signaled me to follow him to the kitchen...
...He currently teaches theology at Boston College...
...The church is in a period of enor(Continued on page 24) Dolores Leckey Dolores Leckey worked for twenty years on issues of lay ministry for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops...
...From the many insights and issues that Schuth's study lays before us, I single out four that struck me with particular force as challenges facing not only seminaries, but the entire church...
...While formation has come to include the whole educational enterprise in ministerial training, spiritual formation is a particular subset that refers to the somewhat hard-to-measure life in the Spirit...
...of a decline in the level of personal and intellectual preparation...
...the fourth revised edition of The Program for Priestly Formation appeared in 1993...
...The students were distressed that the schools, while admitting them to class and accepting their tuition, were little concerned about their spiritual needs...
...In the United States, the first such set of guidelines was issued in 1971...
...to be places where a Christic vision and imagination permeate the celebration of liturgy, guide the style of theology, and inspire the boldness of pastoral initiatives...
...Accepting that qualification, these central parts of the study offer valuable statistics and perspectives on the mul~ple components and dimensions of seminary life...
...Finally a "Conclusion" summarizes both the accomplishments of and some critical concerns facing the institutions...
...One needs here to be wary of too facile generalization...
...Here, as elsewhere, Vatican II set in motion a process whose unfolding it scarcely foresaw and whose development holds considerable promise and commensurate challenge...
...9 The second aspect is intellectual formation...
...The situation was quite different twenty-plus years ago when the lay presence in seminaries was new and somewhat challenging...
...In many ways seminaries and theologates stand on the frontlines of those transitions, and the attempted adaptations on the part of many Faculty and others have indeed bordered on the quietly heroic...
...In light of the extent and depth of this crisis, the attention given to the Catholic culture wars will come to be seen as an unaffordable luxury...
...The panel was followed by small-group discussions focused on these topics and a plenary session where questions and concerns were aired...
...Appeals to Lumen gentium or Gaudium et spes sometimes became only slogans for browbeating, rather than insights for appropriation...
...Program for Priestly Formation, both of which emphasize the priority of priestly formation and its specialized nature, and a few theologates also mindful of the need to provide solid spiritual formation for lay students, have allocated resources for this purpose...
...Seminaries, mindful of the directives set forth in the apostolic exhortation Pastores dabo vobis, issued in 1992, and the 1993 revision of the U.S...
...9 First, there is the worrisome fact of an ongoing decline in the number of seminarians...
...Schuth comments: "In reflecting on the future of the church, respondents mentioned ideological differences and polarization within the church more than any other topic...
...9 The first is spiritual formation...
...But, by offering a part 1, devoted to an analysis of the contemporary "context" for ecclesial life and ministry and especially by beginning with Appleby's "Surviving the Shaking of the Foundations," the book itself postulates the need to insert these ecdesial issues into a more comprehensive discernment...
...On the other hand, many younger students react against the impoverished religious education of their adolescence and sense the loss of a "thick" and nourishing Catholic culture...
...Its inaugural statement, "Called to Be Catholic," unambiguously confesses: "Jesus Christ, presCommonweal 2 5 February 11, 2000 ent in Scripture and sacrament, is central to all that we do...
...If such critical discernment of spirits acknowledges and promotes the transformative breadth of the Catholic vision, a Christological imagination discloses its depth...
...Appropriate bodies could convene forums on "The Crisis of Conservative Catholicism," "The Crisis of Liturgical Renewal," and "The Crisis of Catholic Religious Education...
...The digging has uncovered a treasure of information and analyses that deserves attention and which could assist church leadership in intelligent pastoral planning...
...It appears that lay students are beginning to fare better in this regard, at least to those of us who like to mark progress more than decline...
...The impetus, of course, came from Vatican II itself, and its Decree on Priestly Formation (Optatam totius), which followed and drew upon the great constitutions on the liturgy and on the church...
...Thirty years after Vatican II, new emphasis was placed upon the uniqueness of the priestly vocation in the church, and the implications for spiritual and theological formation...
...Over five hundred-and-fifty interviews of faculty, administrators, and students took place...
...it must effectively engage the entire community of believers...
...The besetting preoccupation of American Catholics as the new century dawns will not be the clash of postconciliar visions of authority, lay involvement, or women's rights in the church...
...Happily, the lay students are enthusiastic about these efforts on their behall and they appreciate faculty interest in the education/formation of the whole person...
...Though appreciative of all three, I would single out that of Notre Dame historian Scott Appleby, to whose probing (and often sobering) reflections, "Surviving the Shaking of the Foundations: United States Catholicism in the Twenty-First Century," I shall return...
...Speaking of the Catholic cul~re wars that have consumed disproportionate time, energy, and media grapeshot since Vatican II, he remarks: While priests, women religious, and laity were busy constructing and inhabiting new religious and political identities and revising the curricula and pedagogy of Catholic religious education, they did not command the resources to battle the irreligious trends building in American society during the last decades of the twentieth century...
...They worry about confusion despite widespread usage throughout the world for decades now...
...Beyond an appeal for respectful dialogue, the Common Ground Initiative calls, more radically, to Christic conversion and commitment...
...They also wonder if the term suggests competition with priesthood, although Bishop Gerald Kicanas, Commonweal 2 2 February 11, 2000 Robert P. Imbelli (Continued from page 22) mous transition with heroic attempts being made to adapt to new conditions...
...The finest service that seminaries could provide is to nurture communities of discernment where such questions are raised and wrestled with...
...Obviously the semiCommonweal 2 6 February 11, 2000...
...The goal of the new study is "to explore how and how well the schools are fulfilling their mission of preparing men and women for ministry in the twentyfirst century...
...In addition, presidents or rectors of the institutions responded to extensive questionnaires, as did a random sample of faculty and vocation directors...
...I want to flag four aspects of this research, which affect the preparation of lay ecclesial ministers...
...Many faculty knew firsthand the liberating openness inaugurated by Vatican II...
...For the most part lay people come to seminary without the underpinning of philosophy that for many generations has been the foundation of theological study in the Roman Catholic tradition...
...theologates that enroll candidates for the priesthood (many of them also serve laywomen and men preparing for ministry...
...Schuth and her research team have probed and dug and been in conversation with lay students and seminarians, faculty, administrators, and trustees about a host of issues from motivation to spiritual maturity, from seminary culture to intellectual competency for ministry...
...She concluded that study on a note that was both realistic about the challenges and hopeful about the future...
...Hence labels like "progressive" or "traditionalist" can often mask a more complicated and challenging reality...
...The term lay ecclesial minister is a generic term and refers to those prepared for ministry in the church and who serve in a public, stable, recognized, and authorized manner...
...It comes as no surprise to find, at the conclusion of her discussion of faculty, the honest and pointed comment: "Although much that is positive recommends the present situation for faculty, beneath the surface of the surveys and interviews a sense of unrest and uncertainty is evident...
...A panel composed of two bishops and two laywomen presented to the assembly, in crisp eight-minute summaries, the best and most current thinking regarding the theology of lay ministry, the formation of lay ministers, including their sense of vocation, the multicultural issues embedded in current and future developments, and the relationship between the ordained and the lay ecclesial minister...
...refrain from every kind of evil...
...A lack of religious literacy makes the study of theology seem difficult and excessively abstract to students and can foster a defensive anti-intellectual posture...
...In the late 1970s I was invited to meet with lay Catholics who were enrolled at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, a coalition of various theologates...
...This was a regular Thursday evening occurrence, a hospitable Franciscan invitation, which placed spiritual formation within the context of human formation and relationships...
...That particular point--spiritual formation within human formationis a major theme of Schuth's book, and marks the Franciscan school as a pioneer...
...Schuth has entrusted the essays in this part to three scholars who bring particular expertise to their task...
...One particular dilemma posed to seminaries and theologates, however, concerns how to promote effective formation for collaborative ministry, while honoring the unique sacramental role of the priest in Catholic tradition and theology...
...To some extent the differences are experiential and generational...
...Hence, in the course of the book, Schuth appeals several times to the Cardinal Bernardin-inspired Catholic Common Ground Initiative as a way of engaging issues in a spirit of respect and dialogue, hoping to make differences productive and not debilitating...
...Her study thus deserves the close attention not only of those immediately engaged in the ministry formation enterprise, but of all concerned with the flourishing of Catholic life in the new century...
...They have also expanded programs of psychological counseling and spiritual formation in order to address in greater depth issues of permanent Commitment and celibacy within a cultural context often indifferent, if not hostile, to such commitment...
...There would be Eucharist, he said, the sharing of a meal, and, equally important, the sharing of life and faith among these hopeful church ministers-to-be...
...The late Cardinal Basil Hume of England, in a lecture prepared for the Catholic Common Ground Initiative, sounded this refrain as he looked toward the new millennium...
...he must always be the measure and not what is measured...
...In contrast to Trent's reformist and centralizing thrust in erecting seminaries in a situation of near formational and educational anarchy, Optatam totius sought to devolve responsibility toward the local churches, entrusting to episcopal conferences the task of devising programs of priestly formation suited to local circumstances and needs...
...Seminaries, in the past ten years, have developed pretheology and continuing education programs to meet some of these needs...
...Today, a few seminaries are following suit and, clearly, the lay students would welcome even more attention and help in matters of spiritual growth and development...
Vol. 127 • February 2000 • No. 3
