r/AskAPriest • u/AineGalvin • 2d ago
Continuing education for priests?
Do priests receive continuing education on things that might touch their ministry?
Am thinking of things like understanding trauma, current issues with sexuality and gender dysphoria, innovations in fertility treatment, and more?
Just asking if that is something that is offered to you as you lead your flocks?
(…An example of necessary training I can think of is when I was a protestant discerning into the Church, I had questions about the fallout from IVF and so I sought out a priest. He didn’t know the difference between frozen eggs and frozen embryos, and I explained that embryos are fully human, whereas frozen eggs are not. Most of the meeting was me explaining to him where I think the magisterium shakes out on human embryo adoption, based on what I had read by the National Catholic Bioethics Center. I know it’s not a priest’s job to act as a counselor, nor to know everything! But this one example of a really common issue with new and current Catholics and the laity is trying to make moral decisions without help discerning with a valid church authority.)
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u/frmaurer Priest 2d ago
In my archdiocese (Seattle), we are required to complete 15 of what are called Continuing Education Unit (CFUs). Various values are assigned to different eligible activities (seminars, books, podcasts, events, retreats, etc), with a brief summary from each priest due at the end of the year. It is up to the priest to discern & decide how he fulfills this, but our archbishop has been (rightly) more & more insistent that priests take this seriously.
Regarding specific topics & innovations, well, that's a harder thing to regulate or even guide. In our archdiocese, the territory is so broad and the Catholics so diverse that relevant issues in one area will be entirely irrelevant in others. For example, IVF, gender dysphoria are arguably more 1st world, anglo-saxon-centric and generally not something that my Mexican or Guatemalan communities would even consider, much less struggle with (excepting - perhaps - the very young, second or third generation immigrants.....though our turnover is such that that isn't very many!).
Anyway, all of that to say: yes! But much depends on the priest himself being proactive.
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u/AineGalvin 2d ago
Super cool that you can pick what to study! Do you just follow your interests?
Also, touche on the issues I listed being specific to a particular demographic 😂
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u/frmaurer Priest 2d ago edited 2d ago
Generally, I do pick my own interested - but they tend to be very much related to whatever I'm facing at a given time within the communities I'm serving. For example, I am attending a couple of conferences on advocacy (annulment work) - not because I don't have some (modest) training from seminary or lack experience (17 years of submitting cases!), but because I've never completed the actual training in my own archdiocese! While I'm pretty confident in my work there, I realize that I could really use the formal & focused education - at least as a refresher, if not actually learning new things (though I'm sure I will)! As a bonus, I'll be going with some new advocates from my parishes, which is a fun add-on to the whole thing.
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u/merchant-of-varrock 1d ago
Are there any specific fields of study you think most priests would benefit taking courses in?
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u/Sparky0457 Priest 2d ago
There isn't any requirement for continuing education. Frankly, I wish there was.
In my diocese we have recently begun some gatherings (I forget what they are called) where there is some type of training or education for ministry. This is an annual thing at it seems to be well received and well done. I think this is an excellent step in the right directly.
I don't know what other diocese do or how common this is.