Fr. Scott Karl, vice rector of St. Paul Seminary in St Paul, Minnesota describes their innovative priestly formation program considering Newman’s seminary opening sermon, “The Infidelity of the Future.” Like Newman the seminary is focused on human and spiritual formation. For instance, most of the seminarian’s time is without cell phones so that they can focus on their encounter with The Lord, themselves and each other to grow in new ways in the freedom found in the life of The Holy Spirit. The seminary aims to form missionary disciples dealing with “the perils of the time.” Newman shows that infidelity to Truth is the primary peril of the time. The seminarian then must offer a clear, consistent idea of revealed truth which Newman states: cannot be found outside of the Church – “consistency and completeness are the persuasive argument for a system being true.” Healthy human development comes into being through relationship - where we discover our individual identity. Then as we grow, we come to determine our unique purpose in life. Newman helps us understand that our spiritual lives flourish when our identity flows from our relationship with God. There is great freedom in knowing that we are not alone. 

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.