Creighton University

Resting on the Heart of Christ:
The Seminary Theologian’s Vocation

June 7 — 10, 2010   •   The Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University

Introduction to the Retreat | Retreat Content | Our Vision | Retreat Leader 
Retreat Cost | Application & Information | Deacon Keating’s Weblog

The Institute for Priestly Formation (IPF) is pleased to present a personal and professional retreat for seminary faculty members conducted by Deacon James Keating, Ph.D. The retreat will lead faculty into a greater appreciation of their vital vocation of serving the spiritual formation needs of future priests.

 

The goal of the retreat is to assist theologians and philosophers in recovering the spiritual core of seminary academics and drawing it out for seminarians to contemplate and then articulate. The retreat meets the spiritual needs of seminary professors to appropriate for the first time or to regain a sense that their “profession” is truly a call from God that carries with it not only the requisite duty of theological competency but the promise of personal intimacy with God. We will explore how God is personally directing and influencing the faculty member’s teaching and scholarly vocation by means of needed spiritual direction, the imparting of methods of spiritual discernment, and guidance for integrating one’s own study and teaching of theology with prayer.

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During the course of our time together there will be times of solitude spent in ways that deepen your appropriation of the vocation to form seminarians. You will be involved in:

• Guided meditations and lectures on the vocation of the seminary professor
• Time for silent prayer, communal prayer
• Eucharistic liturgy
• Fellowship
• Private study and leisure
• Personal spiritual direction
• Our final meal together will be a special luncheon featuring a focus upon and a celebration of our vocation as seminary professors.

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Seminary theology, as well as philosophy, assists the seminarian to learn about God. In this process, however, it also allows for seminarians and professors to be visited by God in the reverence we experience before truth, in a silence which invites contemplation, and in acts of beholding the beauty found in doctrine and tradition. In other words, seminary theology welcomes an encounter and not simply tenets.

 

Our vision allows the dignity of the theological vocation to sink deeply into the vulnerable mind and heart so that such a dignity can free the professor to be a lover of God’s grace during the classroom lecture, and in his or her study and writing. Professors that welcome the spirit of prayer into their teaching and study form future priests who welcome that same spirit in their own ministry.

 

Deacon James Keating, Ph.D. will lead this retreat. Before joining the staff of the IPF Deacon Keating taught moral and spiritual theology for 13 years in the School of Theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in 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. He is committed to promoting the vision of the US Bishops that spiritual formation must become the heart of seminary academics (PPF, n. 115).

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The cost for this retreat is $415.00. The registration fee includes all materials, private room, and all meals. LIMITED SCHOLARHIPS ARE AVAILABLE.

 

Application & Information

To receive an application, or for more information, please contact:

Rev. Mr. James Keating, Ph.D.

Director of Theological Formation

The Institute for Priestly Formation

Creighton University

2500 California Plaza

Omaha, NE 68178-0300

Telephone (402) 280-3326

Fax: (402) 280-3529

E-mail: ipf@creighton.edu

Weblog: www.deaconjameskeating.blogspot.com/

Introduction to the Retreat | Retreat Content | Our Vision | Retreat Leader 
Retreat Cost | Application & Information | Deacon Keating’s Weblog