New Transitional Diaconate Ordination Date Signals Change in USCCB Priestly Formation Plan

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recently updated its pastoral formation plan concerning the time of year seminarians are ordained as transitional deacons. Instead of seminarians being ordained as transitional deacons in the spring, they will be ordained in December. The change essentially allows seminarians to complete their academic studies before entering their vocational synthesis stage.

The first two seminarians in the Diocese of Baton Rouge to be ordained as transitional deacons under the updated plan will be Joshua Zelden and Huy Tran. They are scheduled to be ordained December 21 at St. Joseph Cathedral.

Father Kurt Young, vice rector/ coordinator of the propaedeutic stage at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, said the formation to be a priest is centered around four major dimensions: the human dimension, the pastoral dimension, the spiritual dimension, and the intellectual dimension.

“Each of those formations focuses on a different aspect of the development of the person,” Father Young said.

The human formation examines such factors as personal growth, effective maturity, and social skills among others.

The intellectual formation focuses primarily on the seminarians’ academic studies as well as their development as a well-rounded person. This includes knowing about current events, news and issues, as well as spiritual reading that is above what is required for their classes.

The spiritual dimension of formation emphasizes the seminarians’ prayer life, their ability to come to know the Lord and to experience his love and discern God’s will for them.

“In pastoral formation, we look at the individual's ability to enter into ministry in different settings, whether it be in parish ministry, teaching religious education to young people who are working in youth ministry; or even some different ministries that we've included this year that are working with the homeless as well as prison ministry,” said Father Young.

He added, “The seminarians get the real gamut of different experiences in terms of ministry.”

At Notre Dame Seminary, the change in date for the transitional diaconate ordination does not substantially change the formation program, according to Father Young.

Previously, as seminarians prepared to enter their final theological year of study, they were ordained as transitional deacons in May or June. They spent the following summer in a five-month internship in a parish under the direction of the pastor. They returned to the seminary in October for a couple of classes and then had full spring semester of classes before graduating in May. They were ordained priests at the end of May.  

The USCCB recently published its change in the seminarians’ formation in its document “Program of Priestly Formation in the United States: Sixth Edition.”

“The vocational synthesis stage is meant to be when (the seminarians) have completed their academic studies,” said Father Young.  “Then they would be allowed to be ordained to the diaconate. They would have at least a sixth-month internship as a deacon in their home diocese at a parish, following which they would be ordained a priest.

“Essentially it flipped their internship. Rather than doing it before their fall semester of their last year, it now moves to after their academic studies.”

Notre Dame Seminary reworked their curriculum so that the seminarians graduate in December and then go into a “vocational synthesis stage,” which is handled at the diocesan level, according to Father Young. After they finish that stage, they are ordained a priest.

Previously every seminary and every diocese had a different approach to the seminarian’s priestly formation. The updated priestly formation program “universalizes across the board” what is expected of seminaries and dioceses, according to Father Young. The seminaries know what is expected as they prepare the seminarians to be priests. For dioceses, it gives the priests more time to mentor the seminarians.

“Not only does the makeup of the parish have to factor into where the transitional deacons are going to be placed,” said Father King, “but the pastor himself has to be somebody who is a good nurturing mentor and formator because he’s going to be forming the transitional deacon.

“Hopefully this will set up that transitional deacon for success, because once he is ordained as a priest, he has a mentor, has a connection to his presbytery and his bishop, and feels supported to enter ministry.”