Formation / Intellectual

Intellectual Formation: Understanding the Faith.

Intellectual formation has its own characteristics, but it is also deeply connected with, and indeed can be seen as a necessary expression of, both human and spiritual formation: It is a fundamental demand of the human intelligence by which one "participates in the light of God's mind" and seeks to acquire a wisdom which in turn opens to and is directed toward knowing and adhering to God.

Pope St. John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis, No. 51

College General, mindful of this mission, teaches these courses to candidates for the priesthood according to ecclesiastical requirements and appropriate to the various stages of formation. These formation courses cover the period from the Initiation Year to the end of Philosophical studies.

An Initiation Year seminarian presenting a lesson at the whiteboard

01

Initiation Year

Growth and Spirituality

  • Salvation History
  • Vatican II Documents
  • Critical Thinking
  • Introduction to Liturgy
  • Christian Meditation Methods
  • Christian Meditation Practice
  • Speech Training
  • Sacred Music
  • Language Courses (English, Mandarin, Tamil)
A first year philosophy session beside a projected reading on Mozi

02

First Year of Philosophy

Introduction to Philosophy

  • Logic
  • Political and Social Philosophy
  • Aesthetics
  • History of Philosophy (Ancient and Medieval)
  • Introduction to Old Testament
  • Introduction to New Testament
  • The Gospel of Mark
  • The Book of Genesis
  • Sacred Liturgy
  • Psycho-spirituality
  • Mission History
  • Sacred Music
  • Speech Training
Second year philosophy students at work in the classroom

03

Second Year of Philosophy

Metaphysics 1 and 2

  • Epistemology
  • Cosmology
  • History of Philosophy
  • Gospel of St. Matthew
  • Gospel of St. Luke
  • Book of Exodus
  • Book of Deuteronomy
  • Psycho-spirituality
  • Sociology
The philosophy reading collection on the shelf

04

Third Year of Philosophy

Metaphysics 2

  • Anthropology
  • Ethics
  • Theodicy
  • Eastern Philosophy 1 and 2
  • Phenomenology of religion
  • Seminars on Special Questions on History of Philosophy
  • Liturgy
  • Psycho Spirituality

A Faculty of Philosophy has the aim of investigating philosophical problems according to scientific methodology, basing itself on a heritage of perennially valid philosophy. It has to search for solutions in the light of natural reason and, furthermore, it has to demonstrate their consistency with the Christian view of the world, of man, and of God, placing in a proper light the relationship between philosophy and theology.

Pope Francis, Veritatis Gaudium, Article 81. § 1.

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