Program Format

The Saint Meinrad Permanent Deacon Formation Program recommends that candidates come together monthly (September through June) for academic coursework and formation sessions.

Saint Meinrad leaves the decision about the degree of wives' participation in the formation program to the discretion of diocesan officials. Throughout the program, it's important to maintain the distinction between the ordained ministry of the deacon and the ministerial activities of his wife, which she carries out as a layperson in her own right.

The candidates also come together for retreats (usually in August), meet regularly with a spiritual director, come together in small theological reflection groups in locations selected to minimize travel time, and take on ministry assignments in which their work is supervised and evaluated by local leaders in ministries of interest to the candidates and the diocese.

The criteria for selection and ongoing participation in the program are developed and applied at the diocesan level. Saint Meinrad faculty evaluates the academic performance of candidates in each course, and a final comprehensive exercise completes the academic component of formation.

Saint Meinrad also provides a candidate self-evaluation instrument at the end of each year that addresses specific formation goals. Evaluations of candidate interest and performance should also be provided by leaders of theological reflection groups and supervisors of ministry assignments. All these evaluation instruments provide information to the diocese that can be used to determine if candidates should be invited to continue formation and if they should be admitted to orders.