IPF | Programs

Programs

Through our programs, we help clergy encounter God on a deeply personal level and then share their experience with those they serve.

A Message From the Interim Executive Director

The Institute for Priestly Formation is committed to serving seminarians, priests, and bishops throughout the stages of their formation and ministry. The heart of the call to ordained service is personal intimacy with the Lord. One of the most important elements of priestly formation is personal accompaniment.

All of IPF’s programs and retreats keep the focus on this relationship with God, which undergirds everything the priest does. In these pages, you will find the current offerings through which the Institute for Priestly Formation seeks to help priests live in the deepest possible union with the Lord.

With that in mind, I would draw your attention to our new Program for the Recently Ordained, starting in late July 2027. It is the fruit of observations from and consultations with some of the leading formators in the U.S. More than ever, there is a need for priests at every stage of the priesthood to be served in their own journey of faith so that they may always draw from their deep friendship with the Lord for themselves as they minister to others. The Church longs for priests who can share Jesus, not just conceptually, but as a living witnesses who cherish the virtues of the Lord, bearing Jesus’ own compassion and mercy toward others. The Church also yearns for priests who can help the faithful to grow in personal relationship with the Lord. Please pray for this ministry!

Sincerely,

Fr. Jim Rafferty
Interim Executive Director
Institute for Priestly Formation

Spiritual Accompaniment at Every Stage

The Institute for Priestly Formation is committed to serving seminarians, priests, and bishops at every stage of formation and ministry. The heart of the call to ordained service is personal intimacy with the Lord.

Our programs and retreats are designed to nourish and strengthen the interior lives of diocesan seminarians, priests, and bishops, but the wider Church receives immeasurable fruit when their shepherd is united to the Good Shepherd in everything he does.

Now, more than ever, our priests need support in their journey of faith so they can always draw from their deep friendship with the Lord as they minister to others.

Summer Program for Seminarians

Spiritual Direction Training Program

Retreats

Program for Recently Ordained Priests