Formation House

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ARTWORK BY NORMAN FAUCHEUX

House of Formation to open for men who desire to study for the priesthood

Story by Janet Marcel

The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux’s Office of Vocations recently announced that it will be implementing a new concept in the diocese with the opening of a House of Formation. “Saint Joseph’s Workshop” will be a place where men who desire to study for the priesthood will begin their journey before going to the seminary for academic and priestly formation.

Because of drastic changes in society over recent decades, the Roman Curia’s Congregation for the Clergy recognized the need to adapt the church’s approach to forming future priests.

“Because I believe very deeply in the church’s renewed vision of priestly formation from the perspective of life in our modern world,” says Bishop Shelton J. Fabre, “I am excited to inform you that there has been an effort by many people throughout the diocese to provide a house specifically for young men who will be discerning a call to the priesthood. Because of their generosity for which I am truly grateful, these young men will be able to be formed in this new vision.”

Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, (The Gift of the Priestly Vocation), updated in December 2016, builds on earlier guidelines issued by the Vatican in 1970 and 1985. The product of worldwide consultation, the updated document reframes the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral dimensions of seminary formation — the “four pillars” of formation that were promulgated in Pope St. John Paul II’s 1992 Apostolic Exhortation, Pastores Dabo Vobis (I Will Give You Shepherds).

The document, explains Father Mitchel Semar, diocesan director of Seminarian Formation, speaks of a model of “accompaniment,” which is how Jesus formed the apostles. When Jesus began to form the church, he invited the apostles, who became the first priests and bishops, to follow him. And for the next few years of their lives they walked with Jesus, listened to him teach, watched the miracles he performed, prayed with him, ate with him, laughed with him and worked with him. Jesus formed these men the way he was formed, by Saint Joseph in his workshop.

This is the model that will be used in the new formation house, which will allow men the opportunity for growth and self-discovery in a propaedeutic (preliminary) stage of formation done separately from formal seminary instruction, while providing a community experience of brother seminarians and priests living in a house together. The a

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yearlong formation program will include human formation, or life skills, such as learning about finances, how to cook, clean, landscape, grow their own vegetables, choose healthy lifestyles, communicate, detach from electronics, conflict resolution, etc. The second thing these young men will focus on is growing in their relationship with Jesus, or spiritual formation, by a committed prayer life which is rooted in the Liturgy of the Hours and the traditions of the church.

“The men will be living with priests, and they will get to see firsthand what the life of a priest is like. This also allows the priest to get to know the young men, to challenge them, and help them discover God’s will for them for their lives,” says Father Semar. “This is the model Jesus used and this will be the model we will use. We will accompany these men and help them grow in their relationship with our Lord. Once this happens, they will be able to know with much more clarity and certainty whether or not they are called and desire to move on to the next phase of priestly formation.”

The new formation house is located in Thibodaux, about one mile from the campus of Nicholls State University. The house has four seminarian rooms, two priest rooms, a guest room, space for entertaining, an on-site chapel and a large backyard.

For more information about the new Formation House or to contribute financially, please call the diocesan Office of Vocations at (985)850-3129. BC

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