Inspired by a seven-year-old papal document and new guidelines passed by the U.S. Bishops, the Diocese is requiring men who wish to enter the seminarian program to spend the first year as “candidates,” together in an environment fellowship and discernment before formal admission to seminary.
This year there are six such “candidates” and they have begun their journey at Bishop White Seminary in Spokane, WA.
The six seminarian candidates are Matthew Glaudini from St. Paul the Apostle, Chino Hills; Luis Morales from St. Christopher, Moreno Valley; Cesar Caldera from St. John XXIII, Rialto; Albert Salcido from St. Patrick, Moreno Valley; Michael Poulin from The Holy Name of Jesus, Redlands; and Oscar Montalvo from Our Lady of the Assumption, San Bernardino.
Two men, Jose Hernandez from St. Anthony, Upland and Earl Reyes, from the Philippines, have entered St. Junipero Serra House of Formation as seminarians this year because they have prior academic and seminarian formation experience.
On August 19, the six seminarian candidates arrived at Bishop White Seminary to begin what is called the propaedeutic (the Greek word for preparatory) stage, which seeks to provide the seminarian candidates with the basic groundwork they need to engage in priestly formation. The seminarian candidates will be in the propaedeutic stage for no less than one year.
“Currently, we do not have a program established for this new Propaedeutic stage within our Diocese,” said Father Hau Vu, Diocesan Vocations Director. “As a result, our candidates have been sent to Spokane, WA, where a well-developed formation program specifically caters to this formational year.”
Bishop White Seminary has developed a new program dedicated to the propaedeutic stage called, “Cor Christi,” Its purpose is to form strong Catholic men in the heart of Christ, so that they have a solid foundation for their journey through seminary. Designed to help them “block out the cultural noise,” Cor Christi requires hours of daily prayer, Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, and a six-day media fast. The new seminarian candidates are living in McGivney Hall, a building just one block from Bishop White Seminary that is dedicated to the propaedeutic stage.
Fr. Vu described this new first stage as a year dedicated to fostering the seminarian candidates’ human, spiritual and pastoral growth, ultimately preparing them for discerning the priesthood.
“I refer to them as candidates because, upon completing this year, Bishop Rojas will officially receive them into our seminary,” Fr. Vu said. “They will then officially become “seminarians” for our Diocese and transition to Serra House to commence their four-year philosophy studies.”
This new stage of formation is a part of the recent changes made by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in their sixth edition of the Program of Priestly Formation (PPF), particular law in the Church in the United States and serves as a guide for seminaries and priestly vocation programs that form men for the ministerial priesthood.
The sixth edition of the PPF was approved by the Vatican in March 2022 and the USCCB President ordered it to be observed in all seminaries, effective August 4, 2023. The idea of a new preparatory stage for seminarians first surfaced in Pope Francis’s 2016 document “The Gift of Priestly Formation.”
According to the PPF, the propaedeutic stage satisfies the “need to dedicate a period of time to preparation of an introductory nature, in view of the priestly formation to follow or, alternatively, of the decision to follow a different path in life.”
Be sure to read the October issue of the Byte when we publish an article profiling each of our new seminarian candidates!
Elena Macias is the Managing Editor of the Inland Catholic BYTE.