FOREWORD
I first encountered Jean Khoury and the work of the School of Mary during the Pandemic. At that time I was the Human Development Director of Allen Hall Seminary in London, the seminary of the Archdiocese of Westminster, London, UK. In the early days of the Pandemic before the nation-wide lockdown, we tried to keep the seminary timetable going with the seminarians and formation staff living as a community.
One day the Rector announced that because we could not assemble in a public space, he had arranged for a man called Jean Khoury to give a half an hour talk via Zoom on the topic of the importance of Lectio Divina in priestly formation and its relationship with Theology.
While watching his presentation, I remember being vividly impressed about what Jean said about this important formational subject. While, of course, I had heard of Lectio Divina before, I had not heard it presented in such a compelling and attractive way. I think that half an hour talk transformed in some significant way how I saw the centrality of Lectio in seminary formation.
Since that time, I have spent considerable time talking with Jean whose office was very close to the seminary. During the course of our long fascinating meetings, I began to realise the immense value of what he was trying to do by founding the School of Mary. One of the main goals of this spiritual initiative is to present to the People of God the spiritual treasuries of the Church which previously, for the most part, was only available to priests and religious, if it was even available to them. During our conversations together I also came to see how placing Spiritual Formation at the very centre of a seminary programme was not only useful but also essential. Without a solid spiritual grounding—one that is lived, personally appropriated, and rooted in the Church’s spiritual wisdom—I came to believe that we were sending newly ordained priests into ministry ill equipped. In line with the old adage, ‘You cannot give what you haven’t got,’ it seemed clear to me that if seminarians and future priests were not helped to cultivate a deep spiritual life, we were not only doing them a disservice, but, more importantly, failing the Church itself.
This shift in emphasis—placing spiritual formation at the very foundation—was new to me. Certainly, as a seminary formator, I had of course valued the place of spiritual direction in the four areas mandated by Pastores Dabo Vobis(Spiritual, Pastoral, Academic and Human), but I had not until then fully appreciated its importance and centrality.
Over the past forty years or so, the Church as a worldwide organisation has faced ‘a very grievous blow’ to her life and reputation in the wake of the sexual abuse of children and adolescents by priests. In order to deal with this wound and respond appropriately by putting the needs of the victims of such abuse front and centre, bishops have been insisting, and rightly so, that the human pillar of formation should have greater prominence in any seminary formation programme under their jurisdiction. This of course makes total sense. That is why I was invited, as both a Clinical Psychologist and a diocesan priest, to serve on the formation teams of three seminaries over the years: the aforementioned Allen Hall Seminary in Chelsea, St. Mary’s College, Oscott in Birmingham, and the Venerable English College in Rome. However, I came to realise that in the Church’s attempt to deal with this crisis the human pillar took precedence, understandably, in the seminary formation timetable, making for a very packed timetable for the seminarians who were already struggling with a heavy load of academics, and necessary but time-consuming pastoral assignments. While the spiritual pillar was always seen as important in the face of the crisis and the need to make sure it never happened again, it tended to be somewhat sidelined.
I retired from seminary formation two years ago. Since that time, I am sometimes asked what I feel is missing from the present seminary formation programme, the products of the papal documents, Pastores Dabo Vobis and the not so new Ratio Fundamentalis. I have no problem answering this question. What is missing is a solid foundation in spiritual formation. While the human, academic and pastoral formations will of course always have priority, the driver in the carriage of formation must necessarily be the spiritual. And how could it not be so? If a priest is not holy and one who has his own deep spiritual life at the centre of his priesthood, how can he be truly pastorally effective as a good shepherd following the model of Christ Himself? Of course, this call to holiness is not just the preserve of seminarians and priests but is a universal call to all who are baptised, including lay men and women.
St. Pope John Paul, on the cusp of the Third Millennium, in his encyclical Novo Millennio Ineunte stressed the centrality of the call to holiness for all when he said, “I have no hesitation in saying that all pastoral initiatives must be set in relation to holiness.” “The Council Fathers laid such stress on this point, not just to embellish ecclesiology with a kind of spiritual veneer, but to make the call to holiness an intrinsic and essential aspect of the teaching on the Church.” “[…] to place pastoral planning under the headline of holiness is a choice filled with consequences.” (NMI, 30, 31).
‘Filled with consequences’ must surely mean that if all the People of God are called to holiness, then this call must be a priority for seminarians, priests, and bishops alike. As leaders of the flock, they have a responsibility by virtue of their vocation to be examples not only in faith but also in holiness; and the lay faithful have every right to expect this as the norm for priestly life, as well as for both initial and ongoing formation. And this is why it gives me great joy to support Jean Khoury’s new book on Priestly Formation. Here, in this book, is the fruit of years of prayer and reflection by Jean—not only on the universal call to holiness demanded of all the faithful, but also on the centrality of a deep spiritual life and ministry, thereby making spiritual life the cornerstone for the formation of priests, both in the seminary and throughout their lives of service.
In this book, step by step, Jean presents with clarity a revolutionary model of a vision of what future seminary formation might look like. Always by necessity, stressing the academic, the pastoral and human but with each of them closely and intimately connected to the spiritual.
In his approach to formation, Jean, while respecting the traditions of the past and the present, proposes a pioneering model which, if embraced, would transform and greatly enhance the way we prepare our future priests. This is what makes it so exciting and invigorating.
Back in 1979, I was fortunate enough to be ordained priest by St. Pope John Paul Il in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. It was, as you can imagine, an immense privilege. After the ceremony in front of Bernini’s Pietà we met the Pope for an individual word. He had already been told that I on that day was the only one coming from the British Isles. We spoke about his hopes of visiting there one day. But then suddenly, out of the blue as it were, he put his hand on my shoulder looked into my eyes and said, “Be a good priest”.
Now while the jury is still out on whether the Pope’s hopes for me have been in any way fulfilled, I have tried. But I realise now in my retirement, that the programme that Jean presents in this book would have really and fundamentally helped me to become “the good priest” that the Pope hoped for me on my ordination day now so many years ago. If Jean’s insight and recommendations are taken up, especially with its strong emphasis on Lectio Divina and the Prayer of the Heart, then I do believe that it will in time produce not only good but holy priests.
Rev. Dr. Michael Doyle PhD, STL.