Shalom Center provided a day-long seminar for over 100 seminarians at Saint Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida on the topic “Celibacy, Chastity and Boundaries.”
Shalom Center was invited by Seminary Rector Monsignor David Toups and Vice-Rector Father Remek Blaszkowski to present the programs to the Florida seminarians. Shalom Center Executive Director Daniel Kidd and former clinical director Dr. Eileen Barbella provided the training content. Topics covered included the importance of the virtue of chastity, the wisdom of priestly celibacy, and the need to maintain proper boundaries in priestly ministry.
“It is energizing to see the good young men who are in seminary formation,” Dan Kidd noted. “These are our future priests and they have given up a lot to progress in the seminary toward ordination. But our future priests are subject to the same cultural pressures as other young people and subject to temptation, too, so it is important to help them to have fulfilling and effective priestly service by living lives that respect the virtue of chastity and maintain healthy relationships with the laity.”
Part of Shalom Center’s mission is to provide education to clergy and future clergy that helps them to grow in virtue and the ability to minister to the people of God. The seminary in Boynton Beach, located in the Diocese of Palm Beach, serves all of the dioceses of Florida and several others outside of Florida.