Help Young Men Thrive in Their Priestly Formation

Through God’s grace, the Avila Foundation has begun working with dioceses to prepare future priests for seminary! We have designed a powerful program, in concert with recent requirements for a Propaedeutic (preparatory) year established by the Holy See, which introduces future seminarians to formation regarding:

 

  • Sacramental Participation with Emphasis on the Eucharist and Confession
  • Foundational Liturgical and Mental Prayer Discipline and Practice
  • The Richness of Our Biblical Tradition
  • The Human Person, Social Media, and Pornography
  • What it Means to Grow Spiritually in, Through, and Beyond Seminary
  • How to Thrive in Seminary Life and Formation

Pope St. John Paul II, after intense study, concluded that men were not properly prepared for success in seminary because of the absence of authentic Catholic culture and formation in their youth. Most of these men are lacking in one or both of these critical areas necessary to properly discern and pursue the call to serve the Church. Our program addresses these challenges head on.

The end result will be, by God’s grace, that we will have more seminarians who are both truly called to the priesthood, and who thrive from the moment they enter into priestly formation.

Here is how you can sponsor a future priest. Our program is in need of faithful Catholics who can help us by:

  1. Providing Scholarships for Seminarians: The average cost per year for a seminary to educate one young man is $40,000 per year. The Avila Foundation is able to provide this program for $9,000 per year. With your generous help, we can provide scholarships to seminary applicants across the country.
  2. Providing Monthly Support: We need faithful Catholics who care about the priesthood to provide monthly support to our efforts through recurring giving of any amount. We are grateful for even the smallest monthly gift. We are also seeking those who can and will join our St. John of Avila Society for Priestly Formation by committing to a gift of $250 per month or more. This monthly gift will help us to provide a partial scholarship for a seminarian allowing more dioceses’ the ability to send their men to us.

For the next month, a generous donor will match every donation made up to $50,000!

Will you join us in this critical mission to lift these men to new heights and prepare them to serve your parish and the parishes around the United States?

Please consider making an investment (and having it doubled) in our future priests through your donation.

Yours In Christ,

Dan Burke
Avila Foundation

About Dan Burke

Dan is the President of the Avila Foundation, the parent organization of SpiritualDirection.com, the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, Divine Intimacy Radio and Divine Intimacy Radio – Resources Edition, Into the Deep Parish Programs, the Apostoli Viae (Apostles of the Way) Community, and the FireLight Student Leadership Formation Program, author of the award-winning book, Navigating the Interior Life – Spiritual Direction and the Journey to God, Finding God Through Meditation-St. Peter of Alcantara, 30 Days with Teresa of Avila, Into the Deep, Living the Mystery of Merciful Love: 30 Days with Thérèse of Lisieux, and his newest book The Contemplative Rosary with St. John Paul II and St. Teresa of Avila. Beyond his “contagious” love for Jesus and His Church, he is a grateful husband and father of four, the Executive Director of and writer for EWTN’s National Catholic Register, a regular co-host on Register Radio, a writer and speaker who provides online spiritual formation and travels to share his conversion story and the great riches that the Church provides us through authentic Catholic spirituality. Dan has been featured on EWTN’s Journey Home program and numerous radio programs.

This article is reprinted with permission from our friends at Roman Catholic Spiritual Direction.

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