133 Models of Integrated Personal Formation -- Catholic Style, with Matthew Walz, Ph.D.
Mar 4, 2024
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Philosopher Matthew Walz, Ph.D. discusses integrating four pillars of formation, paralleling Aristotle's four causes and 'four loves'. They relate the types of formation to dimensions of Christ, emphasizing 'dimensional trespassing' in the process.
Human formation focuses on developing a healthy and morally upright human nature for seminarians and priests.
Pastoral formation equips individuals with skills needed for effective ministerial roles, especially in pastoral care settings.
Spiritual formation nurtures a deep relationship with God, emphasizing charity and love towards Him.
Intellectual formation emphasizes pursuit of truth, virtue, and clarity, integrating knowledge with the love of truth.
Deep dives
Human Formation: Shaping Seminarians and Priests
Human formation is crucial in shaping seminarians and priests, focusing on developing a healthy and morally upright human nature. This dimension addresses emotions, body, thoughts, history, and faculties, aiming for a foundation that aligns with nature and grace.
Pastoral Formation: Fostering Ministerial Skills
Pastoral formation aims to equip individuals with the skills needed to fulfill ministerial roles effectively, especially in pastoral care settings. It focuses on developing the ability to shepherd and care for souls, preparing individuals for the responsibilities of pastoral ministry.
Spiritual Formation: Cultivating Relationship with God
Spiritual formation involves nurturing a deep relationship with God and aligning one's life with spiritual principles. It centers on developing charity and love towards God, serving as the soul that breathes life into the entire formation process.
Intellectual Formation: Pursuing Truth and Virtue
Intellectual formation emphasizes the pursuit of truth, virtue, and clarity in understanding oneself, others, and God. By engaging in rigorous studies and critical thinking, individuals seek to align their understanding with reality, integrating knowledge with the love of truth.
Emulating Christ's Celibacy
Encouraging seminarians to ponder on Christ's choice of celibacy as an expression of chastity, the speaker emphasizes understanding the way Christ arrived at this decision. By exemplifying celibacy as a process rooted in human experience, seminarians are encouraged to imitate Christ's journey towards celibacy through reflection on their relationships with figures like our Lady and St. Joseph.
Human Repertoire in Interactions
Discussing how Christ's responses to individuals vary based on their personalities, the speaker highlights Christ's expansive human capacity to engage and respond uniquely to different people. Emphasizing that Christ's responses were not limited by a singular personality trait, the speaker points out the broad range of human qualities exhibited by Christ, leading to diverse interactions.
Integration vs. Distinction in Formation
Addressing the importance of balancing integration and distinction in formation, the speaker stresses the need for a dialectic approach between these aspects. Highlighting the risks of 'dimensional trespassing,' where individuals encroach beyond their areas of expertise, the speaker underscores the necessity of respecting boundaries while nurturing integration within the individual being formed.
In this episode, philosopher Matthew Walz, Ph.D. the Director of Intellectual Formation at Holy Trinity Seminary, explains the integration of the four pillars of formation laid out in Pope St. John Paul II's Pastores Dabo Vobis. We dive into why it is so important to integrate the four types of formation and whether there is a hierarchy or sequence among them. We then discuss Dr. Walz’s models of integrated formation first presented in his article, “Toward a Causal Account of Priestly Formation: A Reading of Pastores Dabo Vobis”, which can be found here: https://www.hprweb.com/2021/01/toward-a-causal-account-of-priestly-formation/. Dr. Walz explains how the four dimensions of formation — human formation, spiritual formation, intellectual formation, and pastoral formation — parallel Aristotle’s four causes, which are the material, formal, efficient, and final causes. The types of formation also parallel the “four loves”— love of self, love of God, love of truth, and love of neighbor. Finally, these four kinds of formation parallel the dimensions of Christ — Christ in His human nature and as priest, prophet, and king. We wrap up this episode by discussing what Dr. Walz means by “dimensional trespassing" in the process of formation.
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