Saint Meinrad strives to prepare priests with a comprehensive pastoral outlook, enabling them to assume the pastoral duties that their service to God's people requires.
At the heart of Saint Meinrad's pastoral formation is "Workers into the Harvest" (WITH), a program that uses academic workshops, supervised ministry and theological reflection to help seminarians integrate their academic, spiritual, human and pastoral formation.
Saint Meinrad students perform supervised ministry throughout their studies for the Master of Divinity. During their first year, seminarians participate in ministry focusing on outreach to poor, the outcast and those on the fringe of society. These placements help students grow in their appreciation of our long-standing tradition of Catholic social teaching.
In second theology, seminarians are placed in ministry settings specializing in pastoral care and counseling. In third theology, seminarians begin an internship in a parish, where they will minister throughout the remainder of their studies at Saint Meinrad. The two-year internship provides seminarians with experience and insight concerning the day-to-day life of a parish.
Juxtaposing ministry experience and academic courses permits the students' ministerial experiences and academic study to enrich each other. Theological reflection seminars each semester, with the support of trained staff, specifically examine the interrelation of theology with the students' ministry experience.
Students are required to take a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education during the summer following their second or fourth semester of studies and to engage in a Supervised Pastoral Internship in their dioceses after their sixth semester of studies. They reflect theologically on their summer internships during their seventh semester.
The pastoral formation program at Saint Meinrad provides diverse experiences and is designed to bring together the understanding of theology with the practice of ministry.
For more information, contact our pastoral formation staff:
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Fr. Mateo Zamora, OSB |
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Fr. Luke Waugh, OSB |