Priestly Formation Today

Priestly Formation Today | An Interview with Deacon James Keating, Director of Theological Formation at the Institute for Priestly Formation, Creighton University | Ignatius Insight | November 23, 2011

Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., is Director of Theological Formation at the Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University,  Omaha. Before joining the staff of the IPF Deacon Keating taught moral and spiritual theology for thirteen years in the School of Theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. He has given over 400 workshops, retreats and days of reflection on the Catholic spiritual/moral life. In the field of his professional research, the interpenetration of the spiritual and moral life, Deacon Keating has authored or edited ten books and dozens of essays for theological journals, including "Pastoral Authority and Spiritual Warfare" for the November 2011 issue of Homiletic & Pastoral Review. He was recently interviewed by Ignatius Insight about the state of priestly formation today and the ongoing challenges faced by seminarians and priests.

Ignatius Insight: How did you arrive at being a deacon and then working at the Institute for Priestly Formation as Director of Priestly Formation?

Deacon Keating: I was ordained deacon ten years ago for the diocese of Columbus, Ohio. I had been praying about it for about seven years before but it was not the time to pursue it since Marianne and I were raising babies. In about 1997, Marianne turned to me during a walk home from Sunday Mass and said, "I think it is time for you to see if God wants you to be a deacon."

Obediently following that spousal advice I began the process of application and formation. At that time professionally I was a seminary professor at the Pontifical College Josephinum and had been since 1993. During my time at the Josephinum I gave an address to the Federation of Seminary Spiritual Directors, and in the audience were the founders of IPF. They asked me to come out to Omaha and give some lectures during their seminarian summer program, which I did for a couple of years. After that they offered me a full time position in 2006.

Ignatius Insight: In general, what are some of the ways that priestly formation today differs from formation in the 1970s-'80s?

Deacon Keating: Generally speaking, I think there was a great deal of doctrinal and lifestyle experimentation during the 1970s and 1980s which was unhelpful to priestly ministry and identity. Here I am speaking about the de-emphasis upon priestly identity as sacred, and in its place the promotion ofpriests as competent professionals akin to social workers and psychologists. There was a neglect in priestly formation to educate men in the sacred character of priesthood both in spiritual formation and in theological reflection.

Along with this there had been tolerance of doctrinal dissent in some diocesan seminaries which then influenced the way priests saw their role as pastors—not as teachers, fathers, but as professorial moderators in the forum of ideas. Hence we saw much experimentation substantively and methodologically in catechesis. The publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Bl. John Paul II was a direct response to this doctrinal confusion. Today seminarians are no longer taught that they are the "same as everyone" or "one of the boys", but that they are called to a permanent openness to, and a deep share in, the sacrificial love of Christ. This "character" is Christ's gift to them, not an emblem of entitlement. Most diocesan seminaries now proudly teach only what is taught by the Church as true, and if there is theological speculation, it is speculation about the depth and contour of that truth, not whether there is such truth.

Read the entire interview on Ignatius Insight...