An Exceptional School of Love: Pastoral Formation
“Pastoral charity is at the heart of the Church and the priesthood; so demonstrating a genuine concern for others, the poor, a spirit of generosity, and a developing habit of self-donation are necessary benchmarks to be achieved prior to the seminarian’s acceptance into the Discipleship stage.” Thus, we have implemented a series of poverty immersions in our Propaedeutic stage of pastoral formation here at Conception Seminary College.
Once per month, our first-year seminarians travel to the urban core of Kansas City in Missouri and Kansas, as well as St. Joseph, where different ministry groups host our students to participate in their unique apostolates caring for the poor in homeless camps, soup kitchens, and transitional living centers. These poverty immersions provide opportunities for profound growth within our seminarians as they wrestle with questions about how to best engage and care for the poor through pastoral practice, relational ministry, evangelization, and Christian witness.
It can be overwhelming to enter a large homeless camp for the first time, or anytime for that matter. Therefore, the seminary seeks to equip seminarians for this work through formation conferences, training in pastoral skills, small processing groups that permit our men to debrief and reflect upon their experiences and guest speakers from the sites. In time and through more exposure to the challenges of poverty, our students are transformed through encounter. As one seminarian so eloquently stated, these poverty immersions became for him, “an exceptional school of love.”
—Mr. Ben Darnell
Coordinator of Pastoral Formation
Apostolic Sites for Poverty Immersion
Please pray for our seminarians and the apostolates who host our men at the following ministry sites partnering with us in priestly formation:
- Brothers Poor of Jesus Christ: Franciscan friars from Brazil on mission in the homeless camps of Wyandotte County.
- Little Brothers and Sisters of the Lamb: a mendicant community from France who blend and identify with the poor as they beg for their own provisions and dine with the poor in local food kitchens.
- A Simple House: lay missionaries with a comprehensive approach to Catholic Social Teaching from street ministry and door-to-door outreach to evangelization and hospitality.
- The Shalom House: a transitional living facility for homeless and formerly incarcerated men sponsored by Catholic Charities.
- Pivotal Point: transitional living facility for men, women, and youth seeking healing, rehabilitation, and reintegration into culture and society.
- The Open-Door Food Kitchen: a warm meal and shelter daily, serving the homeless in St. Joseph.
- Little Sisters of the Poor: a religious community who provides hospitality and skilled nursing to the elderly poor who are unable to afford end of life residential care.
