Program

MONDAY, MAY 19, 2025 (USA):
Arrival at Orientation (Mundelein)

TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2025 (CHICAGO/FLORENCE):
Orientation
Depart for Florence

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2025 (FLORENCE):
Arrival to Florence
Accommodations – Istituto Santa Elisabetta

FRIDAY, MAY 23, 2025 (FLORENCE/BRACCIANO):
Begin Spiritual Retreat
Accommodations – Villaggio Betania

TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2025 (BRACCIANO):
Retreat Ends

WEDNESDAY, May 28, 2025 (BRACCIANO/ROME):
Arrival to Rome
Accommodations – Casa di Santa Brigida

THURSDAY, May 29, 2025 (ROME):
Academic Program Begins
Courses at Pontifical University of the Holy Cross

FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2025 (ROME/LYON):
Afternoon Flight to Lyon, France
Arrival to Ars
Accommodations – Foyer Sacerdotal Jean-Paul II

MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2025 (LYON/USA):
Return to USA

Priests in the New Evangelization (1.00 credit)

Pastores dabo vobis articulates a crucial conversation in the Church in asking, “How can we form priests who are truly able to respond to the demands of our times and capable of evangelizing the world of today?” (no. 10). St. John Paul II expounds that “priests, like the apostles, act as ambassadors of Christ” (no. 16) and need to have a physical and spiritual closeness to people that touches and moves their hearts. While on retreat in Ars, and in Rome, seminarians contemplate what it means that a priest is “a priest forever” (Heb 7:17) and how personal holiness is the remedy for all things. The lives of our patrons — St. John Paul II, St. John Vianney, and St. Josemaria Escriva — serve as models and inspiration for what it means to be in the world, but not worldly, and how to maintain the dignity of the priesthood at all times and in all places.

Christian Rome: Art & Architecture (3.50 credits)

The patriarchal basilicas, catacombs and other ancient churches in Rome are an encyclopedia of Church history and theology taught not in words but in indelible images of architecture, sculpture, painting, and mosaic. As with the interpretation of stained glass windows, however, one needs to learn the art of reading that encyclopedia, by understanding the meaning and context of the symbols used. Through readings and discussion in the classroom, and a series of in-depth guided tours, seminarians will have the various volumes opened for them, to confirm them as followers of Christ and future evangelizers.

COURSE ACCREDITATION
The Rome Experience courses are accredited by the:

Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
Piazza Sant’Apollinare, 49
00186, Rome, Italy
www.pusc.it/eng

The Human Virtues for Priestly Fatherhood:
Character, Steadfastness, and Self-Mastery (1.00 credits)

Optatam Totius highlights “strength of character…sincerity of mind, a constant concern for justice, fidelity to one’s promises, refinement in manners, modesty in speech coupled with charity” (no. 11) as virtues toward which seminarians should strive. With the current confusion on gender in our society, the Church needs men with a clear priestly identity who steadfastly exercise the strength of character to help promote the holiness of all men and women, celibate and married, lay and consecrated. This course will offer a theoretical account of these virtues and how they can be acquired through Aristotelian-Thomistic anthropology, and St. Josemaria Escriva’s practical proposals for seeking holiness through the valiant pursuit of human virtues.

Pastoral Practice Seminar (.50 credit)

This seminar will help the seminarian bridge the gap between the theological and spiritual principles learned during The Rome Experience with the lived experience of a parish priest. The goal is to help the seminarian to understand his future responsibility as a priest to imitate and live out Christ’s own pastoral charity—a pastoral charity that, in essence, requires a total gift of self to the Church and that makes special demands on the parish priest (Pastores Dabo Vobis, no. 23).