The Congregation for Clergy has given its approval to new norms for the training of seminarians in the US. The “Program for Priestly Formation” was approved by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2019.

The key change sought by the Vatican, in requesting new norms, was for a “propaedeutic stage” of formation, lasting at least a year, in which seminarians will prayer, vocational discernment, and “fostering communion between a seminarian, his bishops, and his particular church.” This propaedeutic year is ordinarily not to be combined with classroom training.