The propaedeutic year for first-year seminarians is meant to lay the groundwork needed to engage men in the formation of the heart. It is not a typical academic year but a time for seminarians to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ through prayer, increased knowledge of the Catholic faith, living intentionally in fellowship and community life, and growing in masculine virtue. Following a schedule for Liturgy, communal and individual prayer, and study, propaedeutic men are invited to set their life to the rhythm of the Church – this lays the foundation for their priestly vocation as missionary disciples.
The propaedeutic year offers a specific formation intended for each man to progress in the spiritual life. Benedict XVI said, “It is only in experiencing Christ personally that a young man can understand His will, and as a result, his own vocation. The more you get to know Jesus, the more attracted you become to His Mystery, the more you meet Him, and the more you search for Him.”
The High Calling Program with the Avila Institute aims to help dioceses and seminaries to form seminarians who find their masculine identity in Christ and who have a firm purpose of amendment to become the men God calls them to be as missionary disciples. Inside this reality, each man will be prepared for the rest of seminary and journey toward their priestly vocation.
In partnering with seminaries and dioceses, the High Calling Program steps into this world of formation by providing didactic content in module form that focuses on a mystagogy for the interior life. In the words of Saint Pope John Paul II, men discerning the priesthood “need to be reintroduced to Christ in the interior life.” In live, online, and interactive modules, High Calling professors teach all of their subject matter in view of the paschal mystery – placing each topic within the context of faith as a lived reality.
The High Calling Program does not intend to replace existing content in the propaedeutic year but supplement what is in place to enrich the formation of the heart.
Typically spanning two weeks, each teaching module consists of five 90-minute periods of live, online lectures with robust interaction between professor and seminarian. The High Calling Program is blessed to have many notable theologians and professors teaching for their propaedeutic programming.
