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Seminaries |
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| This is Sacred
Heart Seminary in Hales Corners Wisconsin. It is run by the Sacred
Heart Fathers (SCJ). They do parish work, train older men for
priesthood; i.e., you must be over 30 to attend. It is a totally
self-contained seminary. That means everything you need is within
its walls; i.e., library, dining room, classrooms and chapel. You
have about 700 acres to walk around on which the guys do all the time just
to break up the monotony of living so close together.
Each guy has their own room that is about 6'X9' with their own sink and ability to control your own temperature in each room. Everyone has their own telephone in each room. Showering and bathrooms are shared with about 16 other guys throughout the dorms. Eating is done in a common dining room and most of us put on about 50-100 pounds of weight if we are not careful about our own eating habits. Everyone has a seminary "job" to do; i.e., infirmarian, librarian, garbage man etc... Thank God they never asked me to shovel snow!!! They usually give that to the guys who come from snow country. The seminary is run pretty much like a university setting with each guy taking about 15 units per semester. In between classes your time is pretty much your own unless events are happening such as: study days, days of recollection, retreat days, Dehon lectures etc... Each guy picks his own spiritual director the first few months after your arrival. The seminary staff assign formation directors to everyone, but if you find that there is a personality conflict you can ask to change directors. I did several times in my four years there. If you come with a BA or BS, degree then expect to spend four years at the seminary. If you come with no college or very little college then you will spend the first year and one half or two years going to Cardinal Stritch College across town. It's a Catholic University that will transfer units to the theologic to apply towards your Master's of Divinity degree. Those guys usually spend any where from five to seven years finishing before ordination.
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