The Shaping of a Priest

50 Years of Seminary Formation and Ecclesial Identity

October 27, 2025 by Leave a Comment

As a Catholic priest ordained in 1998, and as a professor of Dogmatic Theology and seminary director of admissions and recruitment (as well as having served as academic dean and assistant vice-rector in another seminary), I have had the privilege of observing the priesthood from both the inside and the outside. I have lived one of the “generational cohorts” of priests, and I now help to form the next. Over the past five decades, the Catholic presbyterate in the United States has been profoundly marked by ecclesial events, papal teaching, and evolving models of seminary formation. If the priesthood is timeless in its sacramental reality, it is also unmistakably shaped by time and culture.

In what follows, I want to trace three broad generations of priests: those ordained in the 1970s, those of my own “John Paul II generation” in the 1990s, and those ordained in the 2010s under Benedict XVI and Francis. I will then conclude with a word about the “Pope Leo XIV priests” now being formed under the 2022 Program of Priestly Formation. Obviously, these are general characterizations and not hard and fast definitive profiles, for as I was once told by a Jesuit priest concerning his brothers, “When you meet one priest, you have met one priest.”

The priests ordained in the early 1970s were children of Vatican II. In the United States, their formation followed the first edition of the Program of Priestly Formation (PPF, 1971), which emphasized pastoral adaptation and openness to the modern world. Academic curricula often downplayed Thomistic philosophy in favor of pastoral theology and social sciences. The very categories of “human formation” and “ongoing formation” were scarcely articulated.

Theologically, this generation leaned toward experiential theologies, narrative preaching, and at times an uneasiness with dogmatic clarity. Liturgically, they embraced the newly promulgated Missal of Paul VI with creativity: guitars, folk hymns, spontaneous adaptations, and inclusive language were common.

Politically, many priests of this era were deeply engaged in social justice causes — civil rights, anti-war movements, labor solidarity — though sometimes less emphatic on pro-life advocacy and sexual ethics. Their pastoral identity often sought to be “with the people” rather than distinct from them.

As Gaudium et Spes put it: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age . . . are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”1 Priests of the 1970s lived this text, sometimes at the expense of distinct priestly identity.

My own ordination class of 1998 was unmistakably shaped by the teaching and witness of St. John Paul II. We were formed under the third edition of the PPF (1992), which incorporated Pastores Dabo Vobis and its “four pillars” of formation: human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral.2

Our intellectual formation was robust, with renewed Thomism and the fresh authority of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992). Our moral theology was deeply shaped by Veritatis Splendor (1993), which taught us to resist relativism and affirm universal moral norms, and by Evangelium Vitae (1995), which gave us a clear pro-life identity.3 Spiritually, devotion to the Eucharist and to the Blessed Virgin Mary were not optional extras but central to our priestly character.

Liturgically, we celebrated the Novus Ordo reverently, with growing interest in chant, ad orientem, and Eucharistic adoration. Cardinal Ratzinger’s writings on the “reform of the reform” began to resonate with us. The Tridentine Mass was not widely present in our formation, but reverence was.

Pastorally, our generation quickly found itself navigating the turbulence of the 2002 abuse crisis. We learned resilience and fidelity amid suspicion. Politically, we were strongly pro-life and pro-family, but also engaged with Catholic Social Teaching on poverty and migration. We became, in many ways, a bridge generation — orthodox without being rigid, pastoral without being lax.

John Paul II captured our vision: “The priest is called to prolong the presence of Christ, the one high priest, embodying his way of life and making him present among the flock entrusted to his care.”4

Seminarians of the 2010s were trained under the fifth edition of the PPF (2006), which reflected John Paul II’s four pillars but added a sharper emphasis on human formation in the wake of the abuse crisis. Psychological assessments, celibacy workshops, and boundary training were standard.

Theologically, they absorbed Benedict XVI’s clarity, rooted in ressourcement theology and liturgical reverence (Sacramentum Caritatis, 2007), while also hearing Francis’ call for mercy, ecological concern, and pastoral nearness (Evangelii Gaudium, 2013).5 Their formation often had to hold these emphases in creative tension.

Liturgically, they encountered the Extraordinary Form thanks to Summorum Pontificum (2007). Even in the Ordinary Form, Latin, chant, and ad orientem were more present. Many resisted improvisation, preferring fidelity to the rubrics.

Politically, these priests were outspoken on life, marriage, and religious liberty, while learning to integrate Francis’ emphases on migrants and the poor. Pastoral identity was marked by a strong sense of priestly distinctiveness — sometimes accused of “clericalism,” but in fact motivated by a desire to reclaim sacredness.

Now, under Pope Leo XIV and the sixth edition of the PPF (2022), we are forming what I would call the “priests of integration.” The new Ratio and PPF outline four distinct stages of formation — propaedeutic, discipleship, configuration, and pastoral synthesis — emphasizing gradual development and lifelong formation.6

These “Pope Leo priests” will likely combine orthodoxy in doctrine, reverence in liturgy, and missionary outreach in pastoral practice. Theologically, they may integrate the Communio school (Ratzinger, de Lubac) and a ressourcement Thomism, with pastoral realism. Liturgically, they may balance Benedict’s solemnity with Francis’ pastoral closeness. Politically, they may transcend the culture-war binaries, offering instead a holistic Catholic social vision rooted in communion and hope.

Having lived one of these generational identities myself, and now forming those who will belong to the next, I see both continuity and difference. The 1970s priests embodied the experimentation of Vatican II’s immediate aftermath. The 1990s priests, my own cohort, carried the identity, orthodoxy, and Eucharistic devotion of John Paul II. The 2010s priests absorbed Benedict’s reverence and Francis’ missionary pastoral style. And the Pope Leo XIV priests being formed today may well be integrators: priests of communion, who embody tradition and mission together.

The priesthood is always Christ’s before it is ours. Generations change, contexts shift, programs adapt — but the mystery remains. As John Paul II reminded us: “The priest is a living and transparent image of Christ the priest.”7

  1. Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes (1965), §1. ↩
  2. John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis (1992), §§42–59. ↩
  3. John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor (1993); Evangelium Vitae (1995). ↩
  4. John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis (1992), §15. ↩
  5. Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis (2007), §64; Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (2013), §24. ↩
  6. USCCB, Program of Priestly Formation, 6th ed. (2022). ↩
  7. John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis (1992), §12. ↩
Filed Under: Editorial Tagged With: , ,
Rev. John P. Cush, STD About Rev. John P. Cush, STD

Father John P. Cush, STD, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, is the Editor-in-Chief of Homiletic and Pastoral Review. Fr. Cush serves as a full-time Professor of Dogmatic and Fundamental Theology, Coordinator of the Discipleship Stage of Formation, Director of Seminarian Admissions and Recruitment, and Formation Advisor at Saint Joseph’s Seminary and College in New York. At the seminary, he is the Terence Cardinal Cooke Endowed Chair of Sacred Theology.
 
Fr. Cush holds the pontifical doctorate in sacred theology (STD) from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy in the field of fundamental theology, He had also studied dogmatic theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum), Rome, Italy, on the graduate level. Fr. Cush is the author of The How-to-Book of Theology (OSV Press, 2020) and Theology as Prayer: a Primer for Diocesan Priests (with Msgr. Walter Oxley), as well as being a contributor to the festschrift Intellect, Affect, and God (Marquette University Press, 2021). He is also the author of Nothing But You: Reflections on the Priesthood and Priestly Formation through the Lens of Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire, July 2024), Your Faith Has Saved You: Homilies for Liturgical Year C – Sundays, Solemnities, and Some Feasts (En Route Books and Media, 2025), and A Concise Introduction to Bernard Lonergan, S.J. (En Route Books and Media, 2025).

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