The programs of priestly and religious formation differ in the Oblates of St. Joseph. However, they do share many common elements. Let's explore the typical formation experience of both a candidate for the priesthood and a candidate for religious profession without holy orders. Please note that the formation program presented is that of the Our Lady of Sorrows Province only, and other provinces and delegations may (and many do) have a different approach.

Formation for the Priesthood

The Aspirancy
The Aspirancy is the first step on the road to profession and ordination. After a man has applied to the seminary and been accepted, he maintains a residence here with the Fathers. Generally, this is a period of collegiate studies, since the norm to date is for young men to enter the seminary directly after high school. It is during this period that all the studies necessary for entrance into a theological seminary are normally completed. Since those studies are very philosophy-intensive, it has been the norm for Oblate seminarians to receive during this period a bachelor of arts degree with a major in philosophy.

Aside from scholastic activities, this is also the period in which a man is exposed to Oblate life as it truly is, so that he can see what and who the Oblates of St. Joseph are, and decide whether that is the life to which God is calling him. During this period, which generally lasts three and a half years, there are no vows, and no juridical obligation to the religious life. Seminarians are encouraged to maintain healthy contact with their families, and also to foster healthy friendships. The Oblate life is not lived alone, and so those considering it are by no means expected to abandon their lives entirely beforehand. The Aspirancy is meant more as a time of transition, so that a man can gradually leave the trappings of this world behind and start focusing on the things specific to religious life and priesthood. The blessings of God, however, like friends and family, are never expected to be surrendered.

With that design in mind, seminarians in the Aspirancy maintain ownership of their possessions and are not subject to obedience in quite the same way that professed religious are. They are expected to maintain chastity as single men who one day intend to embrace the religious life, along with its demand of celibacy. This is a way for the seminarian to begin learning about the religious life, to be gently eased into it, so that he is not surprised on the day he takes his vows. As a part of this gradual introduction to the religious life, seminarians are expected to engage in the manual labors of the house in which they live (the seminary), the prayer life of the Fathers (the Liturgy of the Hours and daily Mass), and also certain apostolic opportunities, including catechism and liturgical ministry in an Oblate parish. Of course, it is necessary during this period to be able to embrace community life, with all its joys and difficulties alike.

These years are meant to expose the seminarian as much as possible to the life he is considering. They are designed to aide a candidate for priesthood in discerning whether this is the life for him, and so while they are challenging years, they are also acknowledged by all to be years in which the seminarian will have doubts, make mistakes, and learn firsthand what the Oblate life is.

The Postulancy
Once a man has seen what life in the Oblates of St. Joseph is really like, and he believes he is prepared to embrace that life, he does so publicly, when he is received by his superior as a postulant. Postulancy is a time no shorter than six months and no longer than two years, in which a seminarian is expected to start living the Oblate life more directly. For most seminarians, this stage will occur during the last semester of their senior year of pre-theologate studies. Since that timeframe is approximately January through June, and college graduation occurs in May, part of the postulancy will be dedicated to the religious life without the burden of studies. In this way, the postulant can experience what Oblate life will be like after his studies are complete.

The express purpose of the Postulancy is to prepare the candidate to have the human maturity necessary for the Novitiate, the next step in formation, and for both the candidate and his superiors to evaluate his vocation, so that he can enter the Novitiate "with an explicit and sincere acceptance of his vocation" (Ratio Formationis). Part of this process involves the decision to be a priest or a brother, so that the question can be answered before Novitiate begins. The entire purpose of the Postulancy is to provide the candidate with all that he needs in order to make a fully informed and intentional gift of his whole self to Jesus Christ in the Oblates of St. Joseph.

The Novitiate
Here is where a man formally begins living life within the Oblates of St. Joseph. Novitiate is the time of immediate preparation for the profession of vows. In the Oblates of St. Joseph, Novitiate normally lasts a full year, though under certain (and rare) circumstances, it can be extended by as much as six months. During this year, there are no academic studies, so that the novices can focus all of their attention on the spiritual and religious guidance that they receive.

The Novitiate year centers around the development in the novice of the virtues and maturity necessary to profess the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and also around deepening his knowledge and understanding of the Congregation. This is accomplished both through an intensive study of the formative documents of the Congregation and the life of the Founder, St. Joseph Marello, and also through an active participation in the apostolic work of the Order, to an appropriate degree.

The multi-faceted program of formation used in the Novitiate is hard to encapsulate in a small space, but the essential feature is that this is the time when a young man pauses his academic progress to make all of the appropriate preparation to profess vows. Therefore, the Novitiate is intended to prepare him both to be a religious in general, and specifically to be an Oblate.

Temporary Profession & Theology
At the end of the Novitiate, the candidate makes his first profession of vows. These are called "Temporary Vows," because they are made for a period of one year. This is done no less than three times, so that, over the course of three years, the seminarian takes vows three times. This step in the process of formation exists so that men who truly are professed Oblates, and who are now seeing and living the fullness of Oblate life first-hand, may still make the decision that it is not the life to which they are called.

For those who do continue to feel called to the Oblates of St. Joseph during this period, it is normally also the time in which theological studies are completed at a major seminary, in direct preparation for the priesthood. Formation during this period focuses on preparing a young religious to live the vows for the rest of his life, and on preparing him academically for the day of his ordination. During this time, formation is overseen by a team comprised of a rector, a prefect, and a spiritual director, all of whom work together to make sure that the new religious is happy, making progress, and living his life faithful both to the vows and to the charism of the Congregation.

Perpetual Profession & The Diaconate
Normally, the third year of Temporary Profession is also the last. Between the end of that year and the beginning of the fourth, the young religious will profess Perpetual Vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which makes him forever a part of the Oblate family. Also, as a preparation of the young Oblate for his life as a priest, he will be ordained to the order of Diaconate during his last year of studies. During this year, in which he is perpetually professed, his focus is primarily on competing the academic preparation for priesthood and getting everything in order for the day of his ordination.

Priestly Ordination
The final step in the process of formal formation for the Oblate priesthood is ordination. After years of study and preparation, after walking the long, hard path to priesthood (which, like the rosary, has been frought with days that were sorrowful, joyful, luminous, and glorious), the young Oblate lies prostrate on the ground and awaits the imposition of hands, after which he is welcomed, already fully an Oblate, into the Oblate priesthood.

It would be wrong, however, to think that his formation ends on this day. Formation is an ongoing, indeed, life-long, process, by which men who wish to "follow more closely the Divine Master" (Briciole d'Oro) are molded according to the model of Jesus Christ, in the imitation of St. Joseph, His guardian and protector. The religious life, bound as it is to poverty, chastity, and obedience, is never complete while we live on this earth, and no one is beyond deepening their communion with the Almighty. The new Oblate priest, then, has now become responsible for his own formation, in the sight of God and his own conscience, and will use what he has learned over the past nine years of formation as he continues along the path the Calvary, to the Crucifixion, and also to the Resurrection.

Formation for the Brotherhood

In the Oblates of St. Joseph, the elements of formation for religious life without ordination are much the same as those with ordination. A young man preparing to be a brother will go through the same steps of Apirancy, Postulancy, Novitiate, and Temporary Profession as a seminarian intending to be ordained.

The essential difference here is that a seminarian preparing for ordination will have a rather well-established course of studies that needs to be completed, comprised mostly of philosophy (during the Apriancy) and theology (during Temporary Profession), while a seminarian who does not feel called to ordination will have greater freedom in choosing a course of study, though there must still be some concrete goal in mind. For instance, a seminarian called to be a brother and with a particular aptitude for the sciences may be encouraged to get a degree in a science and pursue a career in teaching. Likewise, a seminarian with a particular love of liturgy may be advised to pursue a course of studies appropriate for a Master of Ceremonies.

It is acknowledged that not everyone with a legitimate vocation may be called to complete any studies at all. During the course of formation, a certain knowledge of Christ and His Church must be established, along with an understanding of Marello and his Congregation. There are certainly those whose vocation lies outside the realm of study, and they are equally as welcome in the House of St. Joseph. Such men will be encouraged to hone their skills in the kind of work to which they feel drawn, whether secretarial work, carpentry, gardening, culinary arts, etc. While seminarians preparing for the priesthood are completing their studies, these men are charged with becoming the best that they can be at whatever it is that they are already good at.

At this point, it is especially worth mentioning that the Oblates of St. Joseph are committed to welcoming professed brothers into their community every bit as much as priests. In the Oblates, brothers are seen as full, equal members of the community, called by the Holy Spirit to a vocation of service in a non-sacramental way. Arriving at this attitude has not been particularly easy. In the history of the Church, many religious orders have kept the professed brothers and the priests as separate classes, one being much more highly valued than the other. The Oblates choose to take a different approach, where both serve the needs and interests of the Church and the Congregation, each in his own way, according to the vocation he has received from God.

The Four Pillars

Human Formation
Human Formation is aimed at developing the human person in his relation to other humans. In many ways, this is the dimension of formation that is at once both the most basic and the most difficult. Oftentimes, by the time a young man enters the seminary, he is expected to have accomplished considerable human formation beforehand, whether with family, friends, schoolmates, or some combination of these. Human formation has to do with things like being charitable toward those who annoy us, how to stand your ground in a conflict without being disrespectful, how to have the proper dose of recreation, etc. In other words, human formation is intended to make a prospective Oblate first and foremost into an upstanding young man who commands the respect and admiration of those around him, while at the same time instilling in them a sense of comfort and confidence.

Human formation is not easily accomplished, and tends to be presented in a less-than-formal setting. In the community life of Oblate seminarians (at times both enjoyed and endured), ample opportunity is provided to exercise the traits of a "good person," whether in bearing with patience the defects in others, or in lending an attentive and supportive ear to someone in distress, or in going out with the Fathers for an occasional bite of pizza.

Intellectual Formation
This dimension of the formation process is usually much easier to define. In the case of those preparing to be priests, intellectual formation is accomplished chiefly through their studies at college. In the case of those preparing to be brothers, the spectrum can range from college-level studies taken alongside the candidates for priesthood to simpler lessons in Christian doctrine taught by one of the Fathers, depending on the needs and abilities of the individual seminarian. No matter what the particular arrangement may be, the aim of intellectual formation is to get the seminarian to use his mind to the greatest extent possible, and to learn to expand both his horizons and his abilities.

Spiritual Formation
On the journey toward profession (and ordination), a man's relationship with God takes on paramount importance, and so spiritual formation is also extraordinarily important. The process of spiritual formation takes place around rather specific activities, but it is also in part the responsibility of the seminarian himself. On the part of the formators, the Oblate community provides its seminarians with opportunities to enrich their spiritual lives through daily Mass, frequent confession, our weekly Novena to Ss. Joseph & Joseph Marello, our monthly Holy Hour for vocations, our monthly Community Retreat, and, perhaps most concretely in the seminary life, community prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours and the Rosary, as well as communal spiritual reading. In addition to these structured spiritual activities, seminarians are expected and encouraged to foster a private prayer life, and the constant availability of a quiet chapel is often seen by seminarians as a great blessing.

As formation continues over the course of years, formators will take notice that a seminarian is comfortable at prayer, and that he has frequent recourse to prayer throughout his day-to-day life. The Oblates recognize that a good priest and a good religious must, first and foremost, have an unshakeable faith and a constant devotion to God.

Pastoral Formation
The area of pastoral formation, meant not only for those who feel called to priesthood, but also to Brother candidates, is meant to help the seminarian learn how to relate to people in a truly compassionate and Christ-like manner. One of the surprises often encountered by seminarians is the difficulty they have meeting the demands and expectations of the laity who surround them, while at the same time fulfilling their role as a student and a seminarian. Worse yet, this does not become easier upon ordination or profession. Pastoral formation is meant to prepare the seminarian for the life and responsibilities he will encounter once he has finished his preparations. A close involvement with the parish apostolate is the main vehicle for accomplishing this goal. In being given responsibilities at the parishes, such as teaching catechism and directing altar servers, seminarians are kept from having any delusions about what their lives will be like once seminary is over, and they gain real-life practical experience to help them handle the work that they will one day take on as Oblates.

A Two-Sided Coin

The Founder of the Oblates of St. Joseph, St. Joseph Marello, gave his first spiritual sons the instruction to "Be Carthusians indoors and Apostles outdoors." In this command, St. Joseph Marello outlined the kind of life that the Oblates would have so succinctly and with such wisdom that many Oblates to this day find in that one sentence a constant source of reflection and meditation. But what does it mean?

Carthusians Indoors
In the history of the Catholic Church, one religious order to date stands out as being the strictest, most withdrawn monastic order yet. That order is known as the Carthusians, and was founded by St. Bruno in 1089. The life of the Carthusians is characterized by profound silence and seclusion. Carthusians live their entire day alone in a cell, gathering only three times a day to chant the Liturgy of the Hours, and once a week for a community meeting. Other than those encounters, the Carthusians live lives of prayer in solitude.

Early in his priesthood, St. Joseph Marello contemplated entering the monastery, feeling that that might be his vocation. At the direction of his bishop, he chose not to enter. When he eventually founded the Oblates of St. Joseph, though, he made sure to instruct them to be "Carthusians indoors." In other words, the Founder wanted the Oblates to have a deep, rich prayer life, characterized by interior silence and devotion to God. While the Oblates are by no means monks, it is clear the Marello saw in the monastic style of life something of great value, great enough, indeed, that he wanted his Oblates to imitate the monastic spirit of detachment from the world and singular devotion to God.

Apostles Outdoors
If imitating the Carthusians were all there were to Oblate life, though, then the Oblates would in fact be monks. Rather, Marello wanted the Oblates to cultivate the seed of a deep spiritual life by imitating the Carthusians, but then he wanted them to plant that seed throughout the entire world by imitating the example of the Apostles, the first missionaries. Deeply rooted in God by their profound prayer life, St. Joseph Marello then wanted the Oblates to go out into the world and preach the Good News that is Jesus Christ with all the zeal of the Apostles.

The Apostles, as tradition tells us, wandered to the farthest bounds of what was then the known world preaching Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. As their reward, they met with martyrdom, and did so courageously, even embracing it as a way to imitate Christ. Marello wanted the Oblates to be no less committed to the truth of the faith than were the Apostles. Enriched by prayer, Marello wanted his Oblates to go out into the world and show them the source of the profound joy that they themselves had experienced, and to be willing to give up their earthly lives to do it.

In the synthesis of these two great ideals, one encounters the heart of the Oblate life. It is not enough to be prayerful without action. At the same time, it is not enough to do great works without profound prayer to support them. St. Joseph Marello wanted his spiritual sons to have a proper balance between these two ideals, and, by combining them into a single way of life, to be "all things to all men" (1 Cor 9:22).

Always, St. Joseph

In the midst of all the rest of these elements of formation, it is important to keep in mind one thing that makes the Oblates of St. Joseph very important in the Church, devotion to St. Joseph. Along with our unique spirituality of combining monastic prayer with missionary zeal, the Oblates' devotion to the Guardian of the Redeemer, St. Joseph, sets us apart. St. Joseph is a saint largely without the glory due his name. That is, the Oblates of St. Joseph have chosen as their patron and principal intercessor a man whose great virtue and humility are often overlooked, a man who lived a hidden life of obedience and faith, a man of hard work and deep prayer, a saint, who allowed himself, in profound humility, to be overshadowed by the one even greater saint, Mary, his wife, and his foster son, Jesus, the Son of God.