Interested?, come and follow me... Options

[admin]

Application
A. Take the Steps

PROCESS FLOW (Application)

STEP 1. Local Vocation Promoter (LVP) meets the applicant for an initial interview.

The Application and Biodata Forms will be given and be answered trutfully by the applicant.

The Vocation Promoter reviews and evaluates the above forms. Then he appraises the candidate's intellectual, emotional and spiritual capabilities and motivations. Assists also the applicant in discovering his identity and meaning in life and in assessing his motivations and capabilities for the priesthood or religious life.


STEP 2. Local Vocation Promoter (LVP) administers the standardized test.

HSPQ (1 hour) and OLSAT (45 minutes)

STEP 3. Local Vocation Promoter (LVP) submits the test to USJ-R and evaluates the result.

STEP 4. Applicant prepares and submits his Portfolio to the Local Vocation Promoter for further evaluation.

Portfolio includes:

For Highschool graduate applicant/s

Form 138 Cards
Baptismal Certificate
Birth Certificate
Medical Certificate
Confirmation Certificate
Parent's Marriage Certificate (photocopy)
Recommendation Letter written by a priest who knows the candidate (preferably his parish priest). In the case of a transferee from another seminary, a recommendation from his former rector or prefect of discipline is necessary.
Formal Application Letter
Full-body picture of the candidate
An essay of 500 to 1000 words describing the main points of the candidate’s life, especially the origin of his interest in joining the Recollect religious – priestly life.
A short note of approval / support of the person (s) who will take charge of the candidate’s financial – material needs.

For the Adult Vocation applicant/s

All of the above requirements plus: Police Clearance, NBI Clearance, Transcript of Records or Photocopy of the present academic performance / report card if he is presently studying.and Remmendation Letter from the previous work assignment


STEP 5. Local Vocation Promoter (LVP) recommends the admission of the applicant to the National Vocation Director.

STEP 6. The National Vocation Director makes the final interview and final evaluation of the tests results and profile.

STEP 7. The Casiciaco Recoletos Seminary Chapter of Formation may approve the admission of the applicant/s to the seminary.



B. Application Form

Please download attachment below. After filling up, attach and send it to the contacts of vocation applicant in-charge. Can be through mail, e-mail or bring personally to the house of any of the vocation promoter fathers.

C. Biodata Form

Qualities of the Candidate for the Priesthood

To be qualified for the Roman Catholic priesthood, a candidate should possess the following qualities:

FAITH: The candidate must be a man who is knowledgeable about his faith. His prayer life and spiritual life must reflect that he is willing to know, love, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. He must be active in the Catholic faith, which is evidenced by his regular attendance at Mass and his involvement in home parish activities.

MATURITY: The candidate must have achieved normal emotional, psychological, and intellectual growth. He must also be leading a virtuous and moral life.

WILLINGNESS TO EMBRACE THE LIFESTYLE OF A PRIEST: A candidate must be willing to accept the lifestyle that is required of an ordained priest in the Roman Catholic Church today. Therefore, the candidate must be willing to obey the leaders of the Church and accept all that the Church teaches. There must be a willingness to accept celibacy as a true and noble way of life. It is important to live a celibate lifestyle in an honest and sincere way, not only after ordination, but while preparing for ordination. There must be an understanding that the lifestyle of a priest is one of witness in today’s world. To embrace a spirit of poverty or detachment is also recognized as something noble for anyone who seeks to serve God’s people.

GOOD HEALTH: Since the preparation for the priesthood and the lifestyle of a priest are very rigorous and demanding, it is essential that the candidate have a good health in body, mind, and spirit. Physical handicaps or medical difficulties do not necessarily of themselves exclude a person from priesthood. However, care must be taken that a person who has handicaps or physical difficulties is made aware of the specific demands of the priesthood, and how these demands may affect him should be permitted to pursue the priesthood. Emotional stability is also essential for the priesthood and ministry. Psychological disorders or problems may exclude a candidate from studying for the priesthood.

WILLINGNESS TO LEARN: Good grades are not only a sign of educational ability, but also a sign of how a candidate applies himself to the task of learning. Preparation for ordination will include learning not only about God and the Church, but also about himself and how he will be able to utilize his own special abilities and talents in serving the people of God. Good academic ability is necessary since the National Conference of Catholic Bishops requires that every candidate for the priesthood attain a Masters of Divinity degree, or the equivalent, before ordination to the priesthood.

WILLINGNESS TO SERVE: Service is required of anyone who chooses to follow Jesus Christ. A candidate’s activity in his parish or church is a sign of his willingness to embrace a lifestyle of service to God and His people. The candidate must see the priesthood in the context of being a “minister of the ministers.” The priesthood then, is about service. It is about helping people grow in Christ and leading them to serve one another following the commands of the Lord Jesus. One who considers a personal relationship with God as an important and vital part of life.



1. One who has an ability and willingness to talk about his faith and experience of God in his life.
2. One who has a desire to serve others and make a difference in people’s lives.
3. One who is willing to sacrifice personal or material gain for the service of the Gospel and the Church.
4. One who is recognized as being approachable.
5. One who enjoys life, people, and has a sense of humor.
6. One who has the ability to lead and work with people of all ages.
7. One who recognizes the importance of the Church and the role of the Church as teacher.
8. One who forms and maintains healthy relationships with both men and women.
9. One who feels good about himself, has average to above average intelligence, and has good physical, mental and emotional health.

These qualities may be listed in idealistic terms. However, each candidate who approaches the Church seeking the possibility of serving as a priest must have these qualities. The candidate must also be willing to utilize all available aids (the Vocation Office, the Director of Vocations, seminary formation programs, spiritual direction, etc.) to help him grow not only as a candidate for the priesthood, but as a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.


Criteria for Evaluation

1. Basic Principle

A vocation is the result of a dynamic on-going relationship between God and the individual. Therefore, there is a need for an investigation into the call-experience of the candidate.

The basic questions, then, seems to be: is there a relationship with God? Was there discernment of God’s true will for this individual?

This is the crucial criterion of the fitness of the candidate. The candidate must want God; he must know what God is communicating to him.

He must want that toward which God is inviting him, namely: a more total and absolute primacy of God in his life; in this particular religious community with the particular charism.

2. Particular Forms

Is he free and capable of making a lifetime option?
1. Freedom: was there any compulsion or seduction.
2. Physical fitness for life in this particular congregation.
3. Intelligence
4. Affective maturity: there seem to be three important questions here:

Is he productive? Reflecting a sound self-concept

Is he happy? Reflecting his ability to have health relationships.

Is he successful? Reflecting his ability to make responsible decisions.

The Three areas that cover the whole affective maturity:
1. Self-concept: affective maturity is expressed in daily life by an individual in that he is not capable of facing reality, primarily people, without quite a bit of emotional stress of one from or another. Therefore, he constantly puts on a ‘pretense’ before others.

The reason he cannot relate to reality without ‘pretending’ is because he lacks ordinary confidence in himself, he hasn’t accepted himself, he thinks he isn’t equal to others and would not be accepted by others if they “really” new him as he sees himself, etc. Therefore, he either ‘hides’ himself from others by being extremely closed in or withdrawn, or goes out to others but always presenting a false façade, trying to be another person, never really being himself. This, of course, affects relationships.

Acceptance of oneself as capable of being loved implies that the candidate is at ease in living with the totality that is his person on all levels: body, sexuality, social background, intelligence, emotions, spiritual, and moral life.

2. Relationships: many religious have a morbid need to be love, recognized, accepted and supported and as a result are incapable of real relationships. From them the other is little more than an instrument. It is extremely important for anyone who is giving to a life of celibacy that he is capable of healthy relationships with both men and women.

The candidate must have shown himself capable of establishing healthy relationships with others: he has a history of working well with authority but not with their peers. Some get along well with their peers but not with their elders or with those much younger. Some are withdrawn and have had no effective relationships both with authority and with their own age group. They never had a friend. Withdrawal is a sign of immaturity. A healthy person has confidence in himself that enables him to sincerely and securely himself in relationships.

3. Responsible Decisions: the candidate is able to make decisions and to live by them. He is free from compulsions, insecurity, and guilt feelings. He is able to work on his own. He has common sense. He can look at evidence and considers alternate choices when facing important decisions. He can take initiative. He dares to take risks.

3. Formative Assessment for Applicants

The following factors should be well monitored:
1. Health. The principle is that the person should have health adequate for the demands of the priesthood. Health is a complex thing because there is an interaction between the physical and the psycho-emotional life of the individual. Many illnesses have, at least, a psychological basis, and may be relevant to look at from the perspective of motivation. Psychosomatic diseases are good indicators of conflicting motivations.

2. Intellectual capacity. Among many candidates for the priesthood, there is a discrepancy between their verbal and non-verbal intelligence tests. The candidate must have adequate intellectual potential for the seminary studies, since very little formation will happen if he is constantly struggling with his studies. Overachievers and underachievers may be influenced by emotional factors, aside from their cultural and/or scholastic environment. Some emotional factors that influence intellectual performance are family situation, social relationships, emotional stability, moodiness, and basic reality orientation.

3. Spiritual and moral qualities. The candidate’s knowledge of the faith must be verified. Basic Christian life (that is, prayer, scriptures, sacraments and apostolic services) is a must. Basic Christian virtues such as honesty, loyalty, truthfulness, and responsibility, should be present since they are a necessary foundation for a life of grace.

Special problem areas to look out for in the candidates are drugs/alcohol, chastity, virginity, homosexuality, depression and suicidal tendencies.

4. Emotional stability. Maturity is not related with age, not equated with holiness, not the same as happiness, not the absence of conflicts or problems, not the same as mental health. Emotional maturity is the person’s ability to handle data and impulses coming from both the heart and the head, to integrate them.

Attached File(s)

 AF.pdf ( 83.3k ) Number of downloads: 1
 Application_Form.doc ( 138k ) Number of downloads: 0
 Biodata_Form.doc ( 226.5k ) Number of downloads: 0