Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary,

Overbrook

www.scs.edu

Spiritual Year

Introduction

Following the call of the 2016 Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis1, for a

“propaedeutic stage” as “necessary and mandatory” (Introduction, §3), the Spiritual Year

of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary is a preparatory phase of formation for seminarians

intended to precede core philosophical studies. The Spiritual Year offers formation

intentionally in a smaller community setting to provide “a solid basis for the spiritual life

and to nurture a greater self-awareness for personal growth" (Ratio, #59).

Key goals of the Spiritual Year include the opportunity for the seminarian to enter deeply

into solitude so as to solidify his self-knowledge of his vocational calling, and to

profoundly affect the seminarian’s interiority with the heart of Christ.

Utilizing all dimensions of priestly formation—human, intellectual, pastoral, and

spiritual—this one-year program strives for a life-experience which will allow the

seminarian to “find God in all things.” The “stillness” of the year—freed from academic

grades—aims at fostering a monasticism of the heart to remain with the candidate through

ordination and throughout priestly life.

1Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis—The Gift of the Priestly Vocation. Vatican City:

L’Osservatore Romano, 8 December 2016.

Spiritual Formation

Since “spiritual formation is personal union with Christ, which is born of, and nourished

in a particular way by prolonged, silent prayer,” a holy hour with exposition of the

Blessed Sacrament occurs each morning, with a weekly group lectio divina discussion

(Ratio, #102).

The celebration of the Mass occurs in the middle of the day as a reminder of its centrality.

The Hours of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer are prayed in common.

Conferences on the Blessed Mother aim to allow the seminarian to realize Mary’s role in

forming a priestly heart after her Son. The rosary and stations of the cross are prayed

regularly in community. A pilgrimage is made in both the Fall and Spring semesters.

• Seminarians are prepared for both preached

and directed retreats. The year culminates

with a 30-day Ignatian Exercises retreat.

• The seminarian is required to have a regular

spiritual director, meeting frequently to

process personal prayer and relationship with

God.

• As a means of separating from the noise of

the world, the Spiritual Year includes a

media fast. Phones, television, computers,

popular media and other electronic devices

are not used Monday through Friday. All day

Saturday, the media fast is lifted. On

Sundays, a modified media fast is practiced.

Intellectual Formation

Methods of Prayer

Ignatian Discernment

Priestly Identity

Celibacy

Liturgy of the Hours

Salvation History

Theology of the Body

Christian Anthropology

Marian Conferences

Communication skills

Vatican II Documents

Psychology

Emphasizing the need for a “sufficiently broad knowledge

of the doctrine of the faith,” (Ratio, #156) and that

“relationship with the Word of God holds a prominent

place” (Ratio, #103), the core courses of Scripture,

Catechism, and Spirituality & Spiritual Classics, meet

once and every week. A central assignment is a complete

reading of both the Bible and the Catechism. The

Formative Relational Topics and Spiritual Formation

courses include the following topics:

Core Courses

• Scripture

• Catechism

• Spirituality &

Spiritual Classics

Grades are not assigned; however, classroom participation and one synthetic essay per

semester will be used to gauge the student’s ability to integrate coursework with prayer.

Pastoral Formation

As a way of cultivating “missionary zeal,” and “practicing his spiritual fatherhood

fruitfully,” each seminarian embarks on a month-long immersion program which begins

the second semester (Ratio, #33). Seminarians are sent forth in pairs to travel simply,

and serve the poor. This experience provides a concrete shedding away from materiality

which can so easily mask the interior. In addition, during the normal course of the year,

one afternoon per week is spent in field education.

Human Formation

Solid human formation requires all those characteristics that enable the candidate to be a

“man of communion,” who has a “basic human and spiritual serenity” (Ratio, #41). The

Spiritual Year promotes being a gift to others through communal living in a distinct

house. Seminarians experience opportunities for genuine Christian etiquette, courtesy,

and the need to accept the responsibility of maintaining good order and cleanliness.

Various human formation talks include the following: community living, recreation &

leisure, communication techniques, the role of silence in our lives, and Christian man-

hood with St. Joseph as model.

Through both a regular work hour and house job, each seminarian is afforded the

opportunity to serve the community, working with different Spiritual Year seminarians

on a rotating basis, which is one way “meant to overcome all kinds of individualism, and

to foster the sincere gift of self” (Ratio, #63).

St. Charles Borromeo Seminary offers the opportunity for seminarians to grow through

counseling. Seminarians are free to receive accompaniment in their formation by

approaching the resident priest-counselor in the internal forum. The director of the

Spiritual Year accompanies the seminarian as his formation advisor in the external forum.

Pattern of Life The daily schedule for the Spiritual Year is focused on

providing ample time for prayer and active reflection.

Interior time is the opportunity for the seminarian to

choose among studying, reading, prayer and

constructive communal conversation.

• Afternoons will always include time for

recreation.

• Evenings will vary from a communal movie

(Sunday evenings), to group lectio divina, to

recreation time.

• No workshops take place on Saturdays. This is a

day for “recreation.” The seminarian is free after

morning Mass for the whole day until evening,

with the goal of spending this leisure day in a

productive way for human growth.

• On Wednesdays, the Spiritual Year seminarians

will join the greater St. Charles Seminary

community for Mass and dinner.

• Fridays are communal adventure days. Communal

activities range from a shrine visit, to a museum,

to a picnic, to a nature hike. Opportunities to

experience both history and the arts are also

included in the Friday outings throughout the

year.

Eucharistic adoration through the night happens from

Saturday night into Sunday morning, whereby the

seminarian receives one hour to enter into the hopeful

expectation of the Resurrection each week in deep

communion with the Blessed Mother.

6:15—7:30am Eucharistic,

Adoration,

Morning Prayer,

& Benediction.

7:30am Breakfast

8:00—9:30am Interior Time:

Reading &

Studying

9:30—11:30am Class

11:45am Mass

12:30pm Lunch

1:00pm Work Hour

2:00pm Recreation/

Free Time

5:30pm Evening Prayer

5:45pm Dinner

6:40pm Rosary

7—9:00pm Discretionary

Time, Varies by

Day

9:00pm Night Prayer

Grand Silence

General Calendar

Late August

Early October

November 1 - 3

November 4

Mid-November

Late November

Late December

Early January

February

March - April

Spring

Early May

Mid-May - June

Opening Day

Three-day Preached Retreat

Forty Hours at St. Charles Seminary Main Campus

Patronal Feast Day—St. Charles Borromeo

Fall Pilgrimage (day-trip)

Thanksgiving Break

Fall Synthetic Essay and Christmas Break

Return from Christmas Break & depart for Immersion Program

Return from Immersion Program / Five-Day Directed Retreat

Holy Week and Easter Break

Spring Pilgrimage

Spring Synthetic Essay

30-day Ignatian Exercises Retreat

To maintain the integrity of the Spiritual Year program, enrollment is

limited. For more information please contact:

Reverend Christopher Cooke

(484) 344-5796

ccooke@scs.edu

Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary

Overbook 100 East Wynnewood Road

Wynnewood, PA 19096

www.scs.edu

Front cover: Depiction of the Holy Spirit, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in the apse of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.