Dear Friends of SJV:
And we’re off! The first week of the semester begins with our annual camping trip, now a tradition of 14 years! Imagine you are enjoying a quiet camping trip when suddenly 90 guys show up, praying the rosary and climbing 14ers. It is a highlight of the year. Though classes began on Monday, I was back up in the mountains with our guys in Theology IV (deacons, to be priests next spring). The photo above is from Singing River Ranch, an edenic getaway near Evergreen where each class will go twice a year for a two day offsite known as FIPI (Formation in Priestly Identity). These are great opportunities to get out of the classroom and talk through priestly life and the healthy habits that will lead to personal flourishing and holiness.
This month, you’ll hear from Fr. Angel Perez-Lopez, a long time professor and formator. His work in the area of Thomistic virtue theory and human formation is one of the hidden gems of our seminary. Furthermore, I’m happy we’ll be hearing from Deacon Dillon Armstrong about his experience as at Christ in the City, and how his experience of ministry to the homeless formed his now diaconal ministry.
We remain deeply reliant on your prayers. Know of our gratitude and prayers for your support.
Fr. John Nepil
Formation Conferences
Dear Friends of SJV:
Greetings in Christ!
Priestly human formation is often a confused term. Many people use it. But few know what they are really talking about. Thankfully, the Church has a clear essential definition of this important aspect of priestly formation: “education in the human virtues perfected by charity.”
Thomas Aquinas is our best guide in this endeavor. He offers an unparalleled theological explanation of a little more than fifty virtues. At SJV, we follow him in our human formation program. I try to explain his teachings and to show their practical value. In this manner, I collaborate with formation advisors and with spiritual directors in helping the men to grow in the virtues.
To this end, I regularly offer some talks at SJV, which explain how to grow and how to make progress in these virtues. Obviously, no talk can make a man virtuous. But it can provide clarity and clear direction. Thus, his spiritual exercises, his formation meetings, and his spiritual direction sessions may be fruitful and help him to accomplish this goal.
Please, continue to pray for all of us so that we may become more and more like Christ, the perfect man, whose humanity is the Way to the Father.
In Christ,
Fr. Angel Perez-Lopez
Associate Professor & Vicar for Clergy
Christ in the City
There are hundreds of organizations throughout the country seeking to serve the homeless. Most focus on simply giving the homeless the material things they need to survive for another day. Inspired by Mother Theresa, Yvonne Nagle (now O’Brien) started an organization that would instead address the deepest poverty many in the U.S. suffer from: the poverty of loneliness. The only aid to this poverty is relationship.
Beginning in 2010, Christ in the City uses this principle as their guide. When the missionaries go out into the streets, they do not carry much with them. Just a couple water bottles, some socks, and maybe a few snacks. They instead seek out the homeless wherever they are and simply have conversations. By getting to know their names and stories, the missionaries form friendships which heal some of the hurt caused by years of rejection. It is then their friends on the street who ask about how to get into housing, where to find work, how to get free of their various addictions. The missionaries can walk with their friends through the entire process and continue accompanying them even after they get off the street.
But Christ in the City is not only designed to help the homeless, it also helps the missionaries. CIC is fundamentally a formation program, helping young adults grow in their Catholic Faith. When the missionaries are not on the streets, they are helping run the business side of things, taking classes in Theology, praying, meeting with spiritual directors. They learn all the skills needed to be successful missionaries and evangelists in their lives after leaving the program. This combination of relational ministry and formation makes Christ in the City the best homeless outreach program in the nation, possibly the world.
Deacon Dillon Armstrong
Diocese of Helena
