After reading up on Sister Brambilla's career and work, it seems like an... ok pick.
We'll see how it goes. At least it's not a pick along the lines of the Undersecretary Sister(-in-name-only) Nathalie Becquart.
My one area of speculation is whether or not Sister Brambilla will reform the somewhat-recent changes to the Church's laws surrounding the formation of religious postulants and novices. It now takes a minimum 12 years to reach final vows. Many good women's orders were shocked and dismayed, and I distinctly remember reading somewhere a lament of one Mother Superior, something along this line: "how can I ask these ladies to undergo formation for 12 years to reach their vocation? It's like a woman going through a 12-year-long engagement to be married!"
Yes, I shared the reaction of that Mother Superior when I heard this proposal for "up to 12 years to final vows". Has the Vatican lost interest in the survival of the religious life, or at least in the survival of enclosed orders?
Although it is less extreme, a similar consideration applies to the idea for a propaedeutic year for the diocesan priesthood. You need a preparation period as long as a doctor? Not good enough. You also need a propaedeutic period of one to two years before major seminary.
It might be a coincidence that vocations to the diocesan priesthood in England and Wales have fallen through the floor since the propaedeutic year was introduced in the late 1990s and two out of four seminaries have closed, with very likely more to come.
Of course we have also had the abuse scandal and total doctrinal chaos since the 1990s. But extending the training period cannot have helped, especially with an increased age of entry to seminaries.
I will be "hung, drawn, and quartered" by my fellow priests for merely putting this in writing; but if you really want to add to the priestly formation program so as to benefit priests and their people, I would put the "propaedeutic" year after ordination. Of course you would have to call it something different. After ordination, spend three months in a parish, then two weeks back at the seminary. A week of retreat, then a week to discuss all the questions you have after you have actually been a priest. Repeat the cycle for a year.
This is a brilliant idea. It'd be even better if those priests received feedback from the parish priest for the three-month term plus a select few laypeople from the parish, too.
Well, it currently takes at least 9 years to become a priest:
Propaedeutic Year: 1 Year
College Seminary: 4 Years
Theology: 4 Years
(Pastoral Year: 1 Year)
A pastoral year is optional. In some diocese it is mandatory, but that may change with the new structure for priestly formation that has been implemented. (The last semester of the fourth year of theology is spent full time in a parish.) However, for most seminarians a pastoral year exists to address issues related to formation. Since those issues won't magically disappear, it would be foolish to think that the need for pastoral years will disappear. (After 8 or so years in a seminary, even psychologically healthy - or one could say particularly psychologically healthy - men need a break to the "relative normalcy" of a parish.) So for many seminarians it is closer to 10 years of formation. If a man has an undergraduate degree, it is usually closer to 8 years. So while 12 years of formation for the religious order in the previous comment rightly seems long, it is not all that different from other formation programs.
However, this does highlight the underlying, fundamental issue: To paraphrase my (former) seminary rector: "The proposition that increasing the time spent in formation will decrease the number of those who depart from Holy Orders or religious life ... is ... unproven .... "
Some say that the default approach by governments to problems is to spend more money; or by corporations that everything can be solved by increasing the salaries of executives. In the Church, it is "add another year to formation." All of these are ... unproven ... to put it mildly.
After reading up on Sister Brambilla's career and work, it seems like an... ok pick.
We'll see how it goes. At least it's not a pick along the lines of the Undersecretary Sister(-in-name-only) Nathalie Becquart.
My one area of speculation is whether or not Sister Brambilla will reform the somewhat-recent changes to the Church's laws surrounding the formation of religious postulants and novices. It now takes a minimum 12 years to reach final vows. Many good women's orders were shocked and dismayed, and I distinctly remember reading somewhere a lament of one Mother Superior, something along this line: "how can I ask these ladies to undergo formation for 12 years to reach their vocation? It's like a woman going through a 12-year-long engagement to be married!"
Yes, I shared the reaction of that Mother Superior when I heard this proposal for "up to 12 years to final vows". Has the Vatican lost interest in the survival of the religious life, or at least in the survival of enclosed orders?
Although it is less extreme, a similar consideration applies to the idea for a propaedeutic year for the diocesan priesthood. You need a preparation period as long as a doctor? Not good enough. You also need a propaedeutic period of one to two years before major seminary.
It might be a coincidence that vocations to the diocesan priesthood in England and Wales have fallen through the floor since the propaedeutic year was introduced in the late 1990s and two out of four seminaries have closed, with very likely more to come.
Of course we have also had the abuse scandal and total doctrinal chaos since the 1990s. But extending the training period cannot have helped, especially with an increased age of entry to seminaries.
I will be "hung, drawn, and quartered" by my fellow priests for merely putting this in writing; but if you really want to add to the priestly formation program so as to benefit priests and their people, I would put the "propaedeutic" year after ordination. Of course you would have to call it something different. After ordination, spend three months in a parish, then two weeks back at the seminary. A week of retreat, then a week to discuss all the questions you have after you have actually been a priest. Repeat the cycle for a year.
This is a brilliant idea. It'd be even better if those priests received feedback from the parish priest for the three-month term plus a select few laypeople from the parish, too.
"sister in name only"?
Well, it currently takes at least 9 years to become a priest:
Propaedeutic Year: 1 Year
College Seminary: 4 Years
Theology: 4 Years
(Pastoral Year: 1 Year)
A pastoral year is optional. In some diocese it is mandatory, but that may change with the new structure for priestly formation that has been implemented. (The last semester of the fourth year of theology is spent full time in a parish.) However, for most seminarians a pastoral year exists to address issues related to formation. Since those issues won't magically disappear, it would be foolish to think that the need for pastoral years will disappear. (After 8 or so years in a seminary, even psychologically healthy - or one could say particularly psychologically healthy - men need a break to the "relative normalcy" of a parish.) So for many seminarians it is closer to 10 years of formation. If a man has an undergraduate degree, it is usually closer to 8 years. So while 12 years of formation for the religious order in the previous comment rightly seems long, it is not all that different from other formation programs.
However, this does highlight the underlying, fundamental issue: To paraphrase my (former) seminary rector: "The proposition that increasing the time spent in formation will decrease the number of those who depart from Holy Orders or religious life ... is ... unproven .... "
Some say that the default approach by governments to problems is to spend more money; or by corporations that everything can be solved by increasing the salaries of executives. In the Church, it is "add another year to formation." All of these are ... unproven ... to put it mildly.