The Second Vatican Council Decree on the Training of Priests emphasizes the pastoral orientation of seminary education, stating that a pastoral concern should characterize every feature of the students training. The goal of seminary formation is to prepare priests with a comprehensive pastoral outlook, ready to assume the pastoral duties which their service to the community requires. Pastoral service extends to all individuals and groups, including all social classes, with special concern for the poor and those alienated from society. Pastoral Formation certainly cannot be reduced to a mere apprenticeship, aiming to make the candidate familiar with some pastoral techniques. The seminary which educates must seek, really and truly, to initiate the candidate into the sensitivity of being a shepherd, in the conscious and mature assumption of his responsibilities, in the interior habit of evaluating problems and establishing priorities and looking for solutions on the basis of honest motivations of faith and according to the theological demands inherent in pastoral work. (PPF #397)

FE 001/FE 002 Supervised Pastoral Ministry

In order for a student to understand adequately the meaning of ministry, he should have some exposure to, and involvement in, community services. The goal of pastoral work during pre-theology is to give the individual the opportunity to realize better the needs of a community and his gifts as related to those needs.

Field Education 

Students are neither required nor encouraged to engage in pastoral field work during first theology. This year is viewed as a time of transition to graduate studies and an atmosphere that will provide time for personal reflection and a strengthening of ones prayer life. ANY EXTRA-CURRICULAR PASTORAL MINISTRY MUST BE APPROVED BY THE DIRECTOR OF PASTORAL FIELD EDUCATION.

Pastoral Exposure Program (PEP)

During first theology, students are required to participate in the Pastoral Exposure Program, which will provide students with the opportunity to become acquainted with special ministry concerns. The students will participate in a family ministry program and once each semester attend sessions concerning special ministries.

Mission Experience

Students are required to visit the missions during the Christmas break as part of the Acompao Program.

Summer

FE 200 Supervised Parish Ministry

It is required that each student, during the summer of the first year of theology, work and live full-time in a parish setting. The purpose of this field experience is to provide exposure to the work of a parish priest, and the opportunity to develop skills in pastoral care. The student should assist in parish programs such as liturgy planning, visitation to the hospital/shut-ins, organization of religious education programs and involvement in their activities, exposure to the Parish Council/School Board, and participating in the Liturgy according to the ministry he has received. Such experience will give a different perspective to ones seminary training. If a student is not able to fulfill this requirement during the summer, he must work in a parish setting on weekends during his third year of theology.

Requirements for this ministry are one reflection paper and an evaluation at the end of the summer/school year. Students are to complete a profile of their diocese and of two church parishes within the diocese.

Supervised catechetical ministry is selected according to the individuals previous experience and present interests. Possibilities include: elementary or high school religious programs, or parish programs for elementary, high school or adult participants. Seminarians select a teaching site in consultation with the program director. On-site faculty supervision and an evaluation are required each semester. (All students are expected to fulfill this requirement in field education. Previous experience in religious education will not necessarily provide exemption. Teaching is an opportunity to articulate the knowledge gained in theological studies and to enable ones faith stance to be more clearly defined.)

Summer

FE 300 Clinical Pastoral Education

The seminary does not offer C.P.E. programs, but uses this course number to register degree credit for C.P.E. done in approved centers, upon receipt of certification from the responsible officials of the centers. The minimum requirement for the Master of Divinity and for other seminarians seeking the seminary recommendation for Holy Orders is one basic unit of C.P.E. The ordinary time for satisfying this requirement is the summer after the second year of theology. In the choice of an institution for C.P.E., the students are to obtain the approval of the Director of Pastoral Field Education.

PT 302 Liturgy & the Celebration of the Sacraments

For the intern, the Summer and Fall semester will be spent in a parish. He will engage in full-time ministry. The ideal is for an intern to remain in his assignment from June to October. This will provide continuity for the parish and an opportunity to develop his abilities in pastoral care, and administration of parish programs. 

The intern will be expected to return to the seminary in November to continue his seminary formation which will provide time for academic courses, theological reflection on parish ministry, and seminary evaluation. 

Ordinarily, diaconate ordination will take place in January after the intern has successfully completed his parish internship. 

At the end of October, the intern will return to the seminary full time with minimal involvement in ministry. The second semester should provide ample time for (a) completing academic requirements; (b) preparing for the Synthesis Seminar exams; (c) preparing for priestly ordination; and (d) retreat. 

If a deacon wishes to be involved in ministry during this semester, he is to present a written proposal to the seminary administration seeking approval.

In theological field education, reflection and integration are closely related. Theological reflection is critical for practical learning in a formational context. Students perceive how theology and the tradition of the church shed light on the pastoral situations they experience. Theology is illumined in the process. Academic work and pastoral ministry come to reinforce one another. This mutual interaction also helps seminarians to sense the presence of God in these experiences and to relate their life in Christ to the service of Gods people. Such learning can represent a significant moment of personal integration for seminarians as well. (PPF #402) Each core course in the Master of Divinity curriculum is to include specific classes for theological/pastoral reflection in order to insure this integrative process.

All seminarians, during the first year of theology, are required to visit a mission country, specifically in Granada, Nicaragua, in order to become better acquainted with the missionary activity of the Church.  

The mission experience will involve living in a mission country for a week in order to:

- reflect theologically on the mission of Christ and the Church;

- become more aware of the universality of the Church;

- pray for the mission of Christ in the world today;

- study issues of social justice;

- live and work with missionaries;

- be introduced to another language and culture;

- learn from the people;

- provide manual labor to improve the living conditions of the people.

Notre Dame Seminary has diverse cultures represented by the seminarians and faculty. This diversity of cultures is also present in the dioceses and religious communities served by the seminary. Recognizing the need to give seminarians a more adequate preparation to do priestly ministry among the African -American, Hispanic, Vietnamese and Cajun people, the seminary sponsors the Global Church Workshop.

- Each year during a four-year cycle, one day will be given to a cultural immersion in one ethnic group;

- The focus will be on theological, liturgical, and spiritual understandings prevalent in the ethnic community, and the current pastoral needs.;

- The seminary community will be required to participate in the prayers, devotions, liturgical style, meals and customs of the ethnic group.