On the Hill

In the United States, Saint Meinrad is at the forefront of developing the Vocational Synthesis stage of formation. The Emmaus Program, which began in January 2025, works with dioceses, parishes, and transitional deacons during this critical stage.

Vocational Synthesis is the final stage of priestly formation laid out in the Program of Priestly Formation (6^th Edition), in which seminarians spend the final semester as transitional deacons in a parish before being ordained as priests. Seminarians complete their studies during the fall semester at Saint Meinrad and graduate in December, receiving their Master of Divinity.

Saint Meinrad helps seminarians transition into the final stage of formation by equipping both the transitional deacon and the parish community with a model of co-responsibility, accountability, and mutual support that can lead to a fruitful and happy priesthood. In the fall semester, before seminarians leave Saint Meinrad, Agnes Kovacs, director of vocational synthesis, along with the faculty and staff, prepare the students for life in a parish. Kovacs expresses that, “Vocational Synthesis is integrating everything that they have learned here in the seminary into the actual ministry work that they are called to do.”

The Emmaus Program was created at Saint Meinrad as a way for the seminary to help shape awareness about the important role that the parish community plays in forming priests. Kovacs describes the Emmaus Program as “a program of support. Just like Jesus accompanied the disciples on the road to Emmaus to help them make sense of all that has happened, we would like to accompany both the transitional deacon, the pastor, and the parish community in this process of integration.” Kovacs is helping develop the program and hopes that Saint Meinrad will become a resource to dioceses and those responsible for Vocational Synthesis at the diocesan level.

She is establishing relationships with the parishes as well, to prepare them to receive the transitional deacons so that the experience is mutually enriching for both the parish and the deacon.

Deacon Keith Hart, of the Diocese of Evansville, has experienced the Vocational Synthesis stage of formation firsthand, having graduated in December 2024. He has had a positive experience at St. Joseph in Jasper, IN, sharing, “I’ve gotten to experience the life of the parish I’m at, and now I can engage in the ministry that I have felt called to and prepared for these past several years.” Deacon Hart is part of the first class at Saint Meinrad to experience these new changes in formation. He encourages future seminarians to, “Be excited for it! If you are in seminary, you should be excited about getting to meet and interact with the people God is calling you to serve.”