It is the purpose of the Seminary to provide an environment in which “the stay with Jesus” can lead to a mature response to follow his call to special discipleship as his priestly minister. This environment includes a sequential program which encourages and fosters spiritual and emotional maturity and intellectual and cultural growth.

The Second Vatican Council decreed that the entire training of seminarians “should be oriented to the formation of true shepherds after the model of Our Lord Jesus Christ, teacher, priest and shepherd” (Decree on Training of Priests, n. 4). The Program of Priestly Formation (6th ed., 43) has further specified the Church’s expectations for candidates for the priesthood at the configuration level:

Priestly life lived in configuration to Jesus Christ must necessarily manifest and give witness to the radicalism of the Gospel. In other words, priests are called to a way of life that gives evident and transparent witness to the power of the Gospel at work in their lives.

The elements of such a lifestyle–named here and to be developed elsewhere in the PPF–include:

• A way of life permeated by the threefold charge given priests at ordination to teach, to sanctify, and to govern
• A life of steady prayer centered first and foremost on Sacred Scripture and the prayerful celebration of the sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist, the Liturgy of the Hours (the Divine Praises, in the Eastern Catholic Churches), and the liturgical cycles, but also on devotional and contemplative prayer
• “Living intimately united” to the person of Jesus Christ, Lord
  and Savior, Son of God and Son of Mary
• Devotion to Mary, the Mother of God and Mother of priests
• A life of obedience that is apostolic, communal, and pastoral
• A life lived in communion with one’s bishop and the presbyterate, a communion that includes sacramental, apostolic, and fraternal bonds
• For priests who are members of a religious institute or a society of
  apostolic life, a life in community with one’s confreres in accord
  with the institute’s Rule of Life and charism or with the constitution of the society of apostolic life
• A life of celibate chastity that serves both as “a sign and stimulus
  of love, and as a singular source of spiritual fertility in the world”
  and, being freely accepted, shows that the priest is “consecrated
  in a new way to Christ” and offers in himself a reflection of the
  chaste love of Christ for the Church
• A “simple and austere lifestyle” that cares for and is in solidarity
  with the poor, works for universal justice for all those who are
  in need, and, with gratitude for the material blessings of God’s
  creation, administers the goods of the community with utmost
  honesty and offers a courageous prophetic witness in the world