FAQ

The goal of the academic program is not a certain grade point average, but the acquisition of all the knowledge necessary for personal formation, the celebration of the Mass, preaching, and giving spiritual counsel. Nevertheless, persistent poor grades can result in dismissal from the formation program.

It is possible that some credit may be allowed. However, we expect our seminarians to experience the entire seven-year program at OLGS, since the program is much broader than academics. Seminarians are given pastoral, spiritual, intellectual, and human formation, and we have found that it generally takes seven years for this to be most effective. Therefore, do not expect to move ahead in the program if you have taken Philosophy or Theology elsewhere.

The actual cost is about $ 30,000 per year. Most of this cost is paid through the generosity of our benefactors, who deserve our prayers every day. Currently, FSSP seminarians are asked to pay $7,000 per year for tuition, room, and board.

We ask our seminarians to do their best to pay everything they are able to pay. This includes actively seeking benefactors, requesting help in local parishes, asking priests to assist or recommend means, and applying for scholarships to various Catholic support groups and foundations. If, however, one is unable to raise all of the charges, he will not be required to leave. We do not deny entrance to an applicant due to an inability to pay these charges.

Debt does not prevent an application to the seminary, but we cannot ordain someone with a large debt. We ask that the issue be resolved in some manner prior to entering the Seminary. Some men find family members or other benefactors to help them and other aspirants work until they can pay the debt. There are other solutions as well. Those men with a serious level of debt should consult us on an individual basis. Again, the important factor to note is that your debt must be resolved in one way or another before you can enter.

No.

Yes. Permission to use a computer in class will depend on the policy of the individual professor.

The summer break is twelve weeks in duration, although four weeks are required for one of many possible summer assignments. Normally, the assignment is to a parish or a summer camp. The work varies, depending on the needs of the parish or apostolate. The work can be anything from simple manual labor to assisting with sick calls, training altar servers, teaching catechism classes, or working in the parish office.

The use of cell phones, under certain restrictions, is allowed to seminarians after their first year. Email is also permitted for seminarians after the completion of their first year.

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is a Society of Apostolic Life. The Church’s Code of Canon Law defines a Society of Apostolic Life in this way: “Societies of apostolic life resemble institutes of consecrated life; their members, without religious vows, pursue the apostolic purpose proper to the society and, leading a life in common as brothers or sisters according to their proper manner of life, strive for the perfection of charity through the observance of the constitutions” (Can. 731).

Thus, members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter do not take religious vows. However, at the priest’s ordination, he solemnly promises to obey his Ordinary or Ecclesiastical Superior. For the FSSP priest, this means he must obey his FSSP Superior in matters regarding the internal life and discipline of the Fraternity – and the Diocesan Bishop in other matters regarding the apostolate where he is assigned. Each member incardinated in the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter also has a solemn obligation to preserve perpetual celibacy, the same as other priests in the Latin Rite of the Church. In addition, each member must strive to practice the spirit of poverty according to the Constitutions. Thus, the priest’s salary is quite modest and he strives to live simply, detached from worldly comforts and possessions.

The seminary program is solely for men in priestly formation.

Yes. Received mail and packages are distributed daily. Outgoing mail is posted daily.

Grand Silence is observed from after Compline (about 8:00 pm) until the end of breakfast the following morning (8:25 am).

It would depend on the openness of the military to the liturgical aspects of our charism. The FSSP has no policy against FSSP priests becoming military chaplains. You would need to contact the military branch you are interested in, as they would need to sponsor you for studies here.

We have over ninety persons (seminarians, priests, staff) to prepare meals for. Unless it is due to a medically diagnosed condition, we are unable to accommodate special dietary preferences. Accordingly, we expect all seminarians to eat all of the meals prepared for them, even those that do contain meat. This is one of the many rules seminarians need to abide by when living and studying in community.

At ordination you make a promise to the ordaining bishop to obey your legitimate superiors. Although you may be consulted when you are assigned, you will be sent to the assignment that is deemed to be for your good and the good of the Church.

Prior to Tonsure, a ceremony that occurs after the beginning of the second year, seminarians wear dress clothing throughout the day. This includes a necktie, a sweater (or coat), slacks, and dress shoes. Those tonsured wear a Roman cassock, collar, and fascia (commonly called a cincture). Informal clothing for manual labor and athletics are worn at appropriate times.

The two weeks required by the Guard during the summer may not interfere since it occurs during the time when a seminarian is not engaged in academic work. However, a conflict may arise because of the one-weekend-a-month Guard requirement that may occur during ordinations and other important events in the life of the Seminary. Such a conflict may prevent us from accepting men under contract to the National Guard.

The first-year men do not enter at the same time as the returning seminarians. The men studying Philosophy and Theology return at the end of August. The first-year seminarians arrive in mid-September.