The papal document Pastores Dabo Vobis on the formation of seminarians in preparation for ordination to the priesthood takes its title from Jeremiah 3:15: “I will give you shepherds after my own heart.” Contained within that instruction is a quote from an earlier document of Vatican II which states: “The spiritual gift which priests have received in ordination does not prepare them merely for a limited and circumscribed mission, but for the fullest, in fact, the universal, mission of salvation to the end of the earth.” (#36)
Cross Catholic Outreach has the privilege of being a small part of that international aspect of the formation of the hearts of shepherds by leading Mission/Vision trips for seminarians currently in various stages of study for the priesthood. The latest of these trips was with a group of seminarians and their dean of students, Rev. Edward Riley, from St. John’s Seminary in the Archdiocese of Boston.
Rev. Riley’s group was accompanied by Cross Catholic Outreach personnel Fernando Marquez, International Vision and Mission Trips officer, and Shannon Burns and Father Bernard Olszewski of the Clergy/Diocesan Relations Department. The group of seven seminarians and Rev. Riley spent their March spring break week seeing firsthand how the principle of integral human development is carried out in the projects sponsored by Cross Catholic in various dioceses of Guatemala. The seminarians are studying for the Archdiocese of Boston, and the Dioceses of Providence, Rhode Island and Manchester, New Hampshire.