The Rev’d Canon Dr. Michael Petty, Canon for Adult Formation & Director of the Charles Simeon Institute
How should we go about forming future priests and deacons for ordained ministry? This is the “million-dollar question” being asked in the ACNA today and, as you might imagine, various answers are being offered. In thinking through a question like this, some historical perspective is not only helpful but also essential. In his insightful book Theologia: The Fragmentation and Unity of Theological Education, Edward Farley shows that the question of how best to form people for ordained ministry has been asked at least since the eighteenth century with no final answer yet appearing.
At the Charles Simeon Institute, we have offered our own answer to this question. We believe that people are best formed for ordained ministry through vocational clarity, emotional and spiritual maturity, and intellectual development. Both our Curacy Program and our Charles Simeon Fellows Program aim at accomplishing these goals.
This summer, our Charles Simeon Fellows (Ryan Cecil, Dan Omar, and Joseph Reigle), will participate in a Formation Seminar over the course of the ten weeks they are with us. This seminar is designed to promote the things I just mentioned. This summer, the Formation Seminar will focus on what I am calling 'Four Conversations.' Each conversation will be conducted with a significant theologian.
Our first conversation will be with the French Jesuit theologian Henri de Lubac. We will read de Lubac’s classic work The Church: Paradox and Mystery for the purpose of developing a deeper understanding of the Church as both a creation of God and a human, historical reality.
Our second conversation will be with the French Dominican theologian Jean-Pierre Torrell and his book A Priestly People: Baptismal Priesthood and Priestly Ministry. The Church possesses two priesthoods which both are rooted in the one Priesthood of Christ: the common priesthood which we all share through our baptism, and the ministerial priesthood received in the sacrament of Holy Orders. During the last thirty years, the tendency has been to emphasize one over the other with disastrous consequences. What does it mean to emphasize both for what they are?
Our third conversation will be with John Henry Newman, perhaps the most important Anglican theologian of the nineteenth century (before his conversion to Roman Catholicism). We will have a conversation on preaching by reading some of Newman’s Parochial and Plain Sermons (preached mostly at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford before his conversion). Newman’s sermons are an amazing combination of biblical interpretation, spiritual insight, and doctrinal exposition.
Our final conversation will be with the Anglican theologian Hans Boersma and his book Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry. We will talk with Boersma about both the meaning of the sacraments and what it means to think sacramentally.
This kind of undertaking is difficult and time-consuming but, I think, worth the investment of time and effort. As clergy and seminarians grow in vocational clarity, emotional and spiritual maturity, and intellectual development, they become better able to serve God’s people. Hopefully, some seeds will be planted this summer!
Please keep Ryan, Dan, and Joseph in your prayers over the course of the summer!