A national study by sociologist Dr. Dean Hoge indicates that 10 – 15 percent of new priests are leaving in their first five years. The Newly Ordained Priests Program aims to reduce those numbers by helping seminarians make a seamless transition into priesthood.
The program begins in the final semester of seminary and continues through the new priest’s first year in ministry.
Grounded in Church Doctrine
The program is based on three Church documents. Pastores Dabo Vobis says that seminarians, while in the seminary, should be taught the necessity of, and given an appetite for, ongoing formation, which should continue “in an unbroken way after the initial formation of seminary.”
The Code of Canon Law (245.2) says seminary students should be trained, while in the seminary, to take their places in their diocesan presbyterates.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ implementation document The Basic Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests says not enough attention is paid to the transition out of seminary and into ministry. (One bishop referred to it as “having all your IV tubes pulled out overnight.”)
The Newly Ordained Priests program has three parts: