Director of Human Formation at St. Mary’s Seminary Focuses on Training Fulfilled Future Priests

St. Mary’s Seminary in Roland Park is giving further impetus to the human formation of future priests with the creation of its first-ever director of human formation.

Deacon Edward J. McCormack, permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of Washington, was named the first director of human formation at St. Mary’s Seminary in September. His hiring marks the seminary’s commitment to ensuring a balance between the four dimensions of priestly formation – human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral – necessary for a priest’s success.

“We found a deacon we knew,” said Sulpician Father Phillip J. Brown, president of St. Mark’s Seminary. “He was very knowledgeable about formation, had seminary experience and was ordained a deacon. His needs and our needs match. This is a big step forward.

Deacon McCormack holds a doctorate from the Catholic University of America in Washington and a master’s degree in theology from Immaculate Conception Seminary in New Jersey. He has been training men and women for ministry in the Church for 22 years.

Over the decades, Father Brown said, seminary leaders learned that while they expertly taught seminarians how to deliver good homilies or understand the importance of prayer, more needed to be done in the area of human development.

“There is much more to human formation,” Father Brown said. “We need to devote much more effort to human qualities. We need to work with them and do everything we can to help them grow.

In collaboration with the rector and the formation team, the director of human formation coordinates seminary life, psychosocial services, physical fitness, nutrition and recreation to help seminarians maintain a balanced seminary experience, according to the leaders of the seminar.

Funding for the new position was provided as one of four priority areas of the seminary’s recent $25 million campaign.

“We are developing this program as we speak,” Deacon McCormack said. “There are several dimensions to this. »

The goal of human formation is to help seminarians grow in maturity and self-knowledge, Deacon McCormack said. Every seminarian who enters St. Mary’s has been “shaped and warped” by his or her family of origin and life experiences, a mix of positive and negative, he said.

“In terms of spiritual life, instead of hearing the Holy Spirit, you might hear your fears and your anxieties, your anger, your emptiness, your rage,” Deacon McCormack said. “In ministry, instead of serving the Lord, you might cooperate with that part of you that is really critical, that part of you that doubts, that part of you that is insecure. »

He considers his office a mentoring center, where mentors and seminarians can come and discuss issues they are facing with him. He wants to support and develop the skills of mentors on different issues and how they can approach them.

He plans to offer workshops with experts in various fields, from counselors to fitness trainers, to discuss issues future priests might face, including loneliness, eating disorders, gambling, alcoholism or dependence. Presentations on exercise, nutrition and sleep are also planned.

“Priests are very busy and are often alone,” Deacon McCormack said. “Try to establish healthy habits now, so that when you enter ministry, they are already in place. You’re used to exercising, eating a healthy diet, taking time off, and connecting with friends and family.

Celibacy raises many questions of human formation, he said.

“The whole seminary is designed to help these guys really discern and clarify their vocation. Are they called to the priesthood? Are they called to celibacy? » said Deacon McCormack. “Seminary is successful if it helps a man discern, “Actually, no, I am called to marry.” We did our job. The first thing is to try to help the guy discern this unique calling.

The seminary is structured in several ways to allow for human formation, Deacon McCormack said, the most obvious being community living and living and interacting with other people. Seminarians also meet with a spiritual director and mentor.

“It’s like executive coaching,” Deacon McCormack said. “These guys have one-on-one contact with qualified spiritual directors and mentors. »

The seminary’s pastoral program gives seminarians experience working with the poor, in hospitals and in parishes.

“These guys will all be parish priests,” Deacon McCormack said. “You have to be able to relate to this infant and this dying man. You need real robust relational skills.

Seminarians must learn to develop a multidimensional support network, Deacon McCormack said, including family, friends, fellow priests and members of their parish.

“You have to learn about yourself, the situations to avoid, the times of year when you might feel a little more alone,” Deacon McCormack said. “It’s all self-knowledge.”

According to the deacon’s research, “the level of satisfaction among priests is extremely high” as many say their lives have meaning and purpose.

“At the end of the day, it’s God who calls these guys,” Deacon McCormack said. “We’re trying to put together a program … that can really support these guys in a priestly ministry where they’re able to proclaim and share the Gospel for many, many years as healthy, holy priests.” »

Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@CatholicReview.org

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