October 21, 2015
On Wednesday, August 26, 2015, William Benthall and Richard Whitney arrived at St. Paul’s College here in Washington, D.C. to begin their novitiate years. William arrived from Brooklyn; Richard from Boston. But both novices have many Washington, D.C. connections already and have made the transition to this new chapter of their lives quite smoothly and, I think, very enthusiastically. It’s great to have them with our eight students in theology in our formation program!
The novitiate year is a time for prayer, discernment, and ministries. It’s a time for getting to know the Paulist Fathers, our history and the emphases of our Mission Direction Statement––namely, of evangelization, reconciliation ministries, and ecumenism and interfaith relations. For the Paulist Fathers there are six dimensions of priestly formation: human formation, spiritual formation, intellectual formation, pastoral formation, liturgical formation, and communal formation.
This commences in the novitiate year, a year which is more of a retreat time than their regular Paulist lives will be in the future. That said, the novices also have ministries, which include Jeanne Jugan Nursing Home with the Little Sisters of the Poor and the Father McKenna Center, reaching out to the inner-city poor. Both ministries are close-by here in Washington, D.C. And already the novices are leading community prayer and serving as acolytes at mass.
In addition to what has been mentioned above, the novitiate time includes Days of Recollection and retreats, ecumenical workshops, and being in full-time ministry in Paulist foundations during the months of February and March. It’s too early to know where they will be assigned, but it always is a highlight of the novitiate year. Then the novices return here to continue the novitiate year of prayer, discernment, community life, and various local ministries leading to First Profession at the end of July.
One immediate highlight for the novices (and our seminarians as well) was attending the Papal Mass here in D.C. on September 23. The novitiate schedule enabled them also to have the time to appreciate the televised events of that special week of Pope Francis’s presence with us here in the United States.
This is the eighteenth novitiate class here at St. Paul’s College. Each year has been unique because each novice has been unique. This present round is no different! Please pray for our novices, William and Richard, and all with whom they will interact during this grace-filled time!
Director of Novices
Richard J. Colgan, C.S.P.