The changing face of seminary formation: Group therapy, digital detoxing and more listening

[...]according to Thomas Gaunt, S.J., executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, which assembled the data cited here, most men now enter with degrees in a wide range of fields. Ms. Laguna said the key psychological issues she helps seminarians work through are dysfunctional family relationships; technology addictions, including struggles with pornography; conflict management and navigating difficult conversations and relationships with authority, especially in an environment like the seminary, where students are constantly being evaluated not only on their academic performance but on their personal growth. Big Changes to Seminary The Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have taken some steps to address these problems, but implementing many of those changes has taken until this past academic year. The key change brought about by the new "Ratio Fundamentalis" was the institution of a "propaedeutic stage," a sort of discernment period of one to two years in which men entering seminary first live in a community separate from the rest of the seminary, do minimal or no coursework, and focus on their human formation and relationship with God.