Life in the seminary is similar to that of a college or graduate student in respect to attending a regular class schedule. However, seminarians live by a rule focused on prayer, the sacraments, and the individual formation of each man towards ordination to the Priesthood.
Each day is structured according to that rule. Seminarians live in community with each other gathering throughout the day for prayer, Mass, and common meals. Part of each seminarian's formation includes coursework, regular spiritual direction and mentoring, pastoral fieldwork, and parish assignments.
LIFE IN
SEMINARY
REQUIREMENTS
FOR SEMINARIAN APPLICANTS
A man may be eligible to apply for Seminary within the Archdiocese of Newark only after having completed the Inquiry and Aspirancy stages of the discernment journey and after receiving the formal invitation of the Vocations Director of the Archdiocese.
Men who wish to enter the seminary immediately following High School, or those who have not yet completed a Bachelor's Degree, will enter The College Seminary of the Immaculate Conception - St. Andrew's Hall. The College Seminary has a clear mission: to provide the foundation for a young man discerning a call to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Students pursue this mission through the first-class academic resources of Seton Hall University, earning a Bachelor's Degree in Catholic Theology and Philosophy, an integrated program in Christian formation, and through the daily experience of opening one's self to the transforming power of God's grace.
The College Seminary prepares a young man to discern the Roman Catholic priesthood by focusing on the four pillars of development: human, pastoral, spiritual, and intellectual. Students live and participate in seminary activities at St. Andrew's Hall, located several blocks from the main campus of Seton Hall. The seminary building combines student rooms, common areas, and a private chapel to further the development of each student.
Men who have already completed a bachelor's degree will be considered for formation at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. ICS is the Graduate School of theology of Seton Hall University and the major seminary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. As a house of formation, the Seminary offers men preparing for priesthood the personal, academic, ministerial and spiritual formation essential for conversion to Jesus Christ and their commitment to a life of service to the Church as Roman Catholic priests.
Seminarians at ICS spend 4-6 years in formation and graduate-level studies towards a Master of Divinity degree and eventual ordination to the Priesthood.
The Archdiocese of Newark is blessed to be home to Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary, located in Kearny. Redemptoris Mater Seminaries are missionary diocesan seminaries located throughout the world. The seminarians here receive the same theological formation as the other diocesan seminarians (receiving BA in Catholic Theology and Philosophy/Master's in Divinity from Seton Hall University). Although they come from all over the world, upon completion of their formation, they are ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Newark.
A characteristic of these Redemptoris Mater Seminaries is that they are international: they are for the whole world and at the service of the Church and are linked to the Neocatechumenal Way. Experience has shown that the combining of a way of initiation to the Christian life - the Neocatechumenal Way - with the formation of the presbyter is a great help for the psychological, affective and human development of the candidates. (Before being presbyters they are Christians, and in the way of faith they learn prayer, obedience, the sense of the Cross, to be in communion, etc.) Above all, it is a help in uniting the mission with the parish, since the Neocatechumenal Way is a time of formation that finishes in the parish with living, adult, missionary communities united to the parish priest and the bishop.