The Art of Accompaniment: Practical Steps for the Seminary Formator

by Sister Marysia Weber, RSM

The role of a seminary formator is to accompany the seminarian in the external forum and to discern with him, the seminary community, and larger Church community, whether he has a vocation to the Catholic priesthood. To accomplish this task effectively, the formator needs a vast array of skills that will enable him or her to listen to, understand, encourage, challenge, and adequately assess the seminarian in an open and honest way. This book by Sister Marysia Weber, RSM, offers many invaluable insights and practical tools that seminary formators can employ in their work.

Paperback: $14.95 | Kindle: $9.99 (ISBN-13: 978-1732594913)

PAPERBACK
eBOOK
BULK ORDERS
Listen to "Sr. Marysia Weber, R.S.M., presenting on Forming Seminary Formators on the Art of Accompaniment (June 5, 2019)" on Spreaker.
Listen to "Pat Flynn Interviews Sister Marysia Weber, RSM, about her book entitled The Art of Accompaniment (September 17, 2018)" on Spreaker.

TEMPLATES

The Road to Accompaniment Template
Markers of Human Maturation in Seminary Formation Template
Narrative Assessment Template
Communication Skills for Formative Dialogue Template

TESTIMONIALS

“As the new Ratio Fundamentalis from Rome invites us to deepen the integration of each seminarian through accompaniment in formation, Sr. Marysia Weber, RSM, brings to bear in this work her years of experience in helping priests and seminarians grow in affective maturity necessary for ministry. This little book offers very helpful insights and practical recommendations to assist seminary formators as they work one-on-one with seminarians in developing the necessary relationship of trust for their growth. Formators will learn from her how to create and take advantage of formative moments in seminary life so that the human and affective flourishing of the man can lead to a flourishing of his divine vocation.” – Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

“Sister Marysia Weber, RSM, DO, articulates clear, relevant ways for the priest formator to accompany seminarians in their formation to the ministerial priesthood. Proposing contemporary assessment questions, this book helps the formation advisor both evaluate and assist the seminarian in his growth in affective maturity. I recommend this compact book particularly because of its practicality, reflection of the Church’s program of formation, and usefulness in identifying opportunities for interior growth for seminarians.” – Fr. Christopher Cooke, Director, Spiritual Year of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, Philadelphia.

“An invaluable resource that every seminary formator should have at his or her side.” – Fr. Dennis Billy, CSSr, author of Finding Our Way to God: Spiritual Direction and the Moral Life

“My colleague and friend, Sister Marysia Weber, RSM, has made an invaluable contribution to the work of priestly formation in her book, The Art of Accompaniment. Throughout the work, her skills as a psychiatrist are evident. Even more evident is her love and honor of the priestly vocation. The concept of accompaniment is key to every insight in the text. There simply is no longer a ‘one size fits all’ approach to priestly formation. Sister Marysia demonstrates both from science and theology varied and concrete ways in which more experienced priests can be both challenging and loving companions on a young man’s journey to ordination and a life of service to the Church. Her chapter on ‘Markers of Human Maturation’ is especially helpful because it presents clear and evidence based ways of helping a candidate recognize individual strengths while not fearing to tackle frailties that could compromise his future life and ministry in the priesthood. The chapter on communication skills is most compelling because it helps formators know how to phrase insights in ways that are acceptable to candidates. Sister Marysia clearly grasps the truth of the old adage, ‘I don’t say what I say; I say what you hear.’ The clearest and most objective evaluation I can give to The Art of Accompaniment is to say that I wish I had this book at hand when I began my own work in priestly formation decades ago. It is a significant and contemporary help in forming candidates for the priesthood after the mind of Christ, possessed of self-knowledge, and ready to serve the Church in our challenging times.” – Rev. Msgr. Thomas G. Caserta (Former Director of Spiritual Formation, Cathedral Seminary Residence, in the Diocese of Brooklyn and Pastor, St. Bernadette Church, Brooklyn, NY)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sister Marysia is a Religious Sister of Mercy of Alma, MI who is a physician, board certified in psychiatry with a fellowship in consultation-liaison psychiatry, who trained at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  She also holds a Master’s degree in Theology from Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana.  She practiced psychiatry at her religious institute’s multidisciplinary medical clinic, Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center in Alma, MI from 1988-2014. She became the Director of the Office of Consecrated Life for the Archdiocese of Saint Louis in 2014. She is a facilitator for Project Rachel, is chair of the board of directors of MyCatholicDoctor, an executive board member of the Saint Louis Guild Catholic Medical Association and the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology. She also serves as Adjunct Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri.

She offers workshops on a variety of topics including human attachment, boundaries and character development, depression and anxiety, dialogue and conflict resolution, as well as on social media and its effects on the brain for clergy, seminarians, women’s and men’s religious communities, parents, teachers and students. She is a formator within her own religious community. She presents on Internet pornography addiction—a Catholic approach to treatment to bishops, clergy, seminarians, religious communities, and laity throughout the United States and Europe She presented to the U.S. Bishops in Dallas TX in 1992 on “Pedophilia and Other Addictions”. She was a member of the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse in 1994-1995. Sister Marysia has presented to the Curia, Vatican City State on “Sexual Abuse of Minors by Clergy in North America” in 2002. She has served as a psychological expert consultant for the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, USCCB. Her publications include: “Medical Aspects of Addiction”; “The Roman Catholic Church and the Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests and Religious in the United States and Canada: What Have We Learned? Where Are We Going?”; “Pornography, Electronic Media and Priestly Formation”; “Significant Markers of Human Maturation Applied to the Selection and Formation of Seminarians”; “The Discernment of a Priestly Vocation and the Expertise of Psychiatry and Psychology”; and “Internet Pornography and Priestly Formation: Medium and Content Collide With the Human Brain”. Her papers “Forming Seminary Formators in the Art of Accompaniment”, “Markers of Human Maturation in Seminary Formation: Becoming a Gift for Others” and “Communication Skills for Formative Dialogue Directed Toward Missionary Discipleship”- A Response to the recent Ratio on Priestly Formation are pending publication in the Seminary Journal.

OTHER ACADEMIC BOOKS

Screen Addiction: Why You Can’t Put that Phone Down

Screen Addiction: Why You Can’t Put that Phone Down

Screen Addiction: Why You Can't Put That Phone Down by Sister Marysia Weber, RSM Have you ever had an irresistible urge to check your texts, social media posts or email updates when your cell phone rings, beeps or buzzes? Is the amount of time spent on...

read more
The Fullness of Life by Martin Dybicz

The Fullness of Life by Martin Dybicz

The Fullness of Life by Martin Dybicz This complete and highly readable overview of the Catholic faith explains how living fully is found in knowing three things: that God is real, that He communicates with us, and that He wants us to respond. The author...

read more
The Thomist Tradition: Avoiding Scylla and Charybdis

The Thomist Tradition: Avoiding Scylla and Charybdis

COMING SOON! The Thomist Tradition: Avoiding Scylla and Charybdis by Dr. Donald Boland As with every great philosopher and theologian, the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, though perhaps the clearest expressed of all, has inevitably been subject...

read more
Eastern Civilization from a Catholic Viewpoint

Eastern Civilization from a Catholic Viewpoint

COMING SOON! Eastern Civilization from a Catholic Viewpoint by Fr. Peter Samuel Kucer, MSA, STD Eastern Civilization from a Catholic Viewpoint traces the history of East and South East Asia from ancient times to modern times. In the process,...

read more
East and South East Asian History

East and South East Asian History

COMING SOON! East and South East Asian History by Fr. Peter Samuel Kucer, MSA East and South East Asian History studies the historical development of countries that make up East Asia (China, Taiwan, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea)...

read more
The Eclipse of God: Is Religion on the Way Out?

The Eclipse of God: Is Religion on the Way Out?

The Eclipse of God: Is Religion on the Way Out? by Gerard Verschuuren This book was specifically written for all those who feel lost in a world dominated by ideologies that obscure God. It is hard to pinpoint one particular cause of how we feel in such...

read more
Contemporary Sacred: Conversations on Art & Faith

Contemporary Sacred: Conversations on Art & Faith

COMING SOON! Contemporary Sacred: Conversations on Art & Faith by Dr. Michela Ferri In translation now from the Italian. Buy it in the original language here: What is the so-called “Contemporary Sacred Art”? In her book, Michela Beatrice Ferri...

read more
Voyage to Insight

Voyage to Insight

Voyage to Insight by Dr. Ronda Chervin En Route Books and Media has reprinted Ronda Chervin and Lois Janis’ book Voyage to Insight with fresh, exciting graphics. It can be read straight through or you can add your own insights into the book and even...

read more
Weeping with Jesus: The Journey from Grief to Hope

Weeping with Jesus: The Journey from Grief to Hope

Weeping with Jesus: The Journey from Grief to Hope by Dr. Ronda Chervin In the past the word grief was used only to describe the sorrow of loss through death. Nowadays pain coming from other kinds of losses such as rejection and divorce are also seen to...

read more
Bereavement Miracles

Bereavement Miracles

Bereavement Miracles by Michael Frey The Bereavement Miracles program was designed to play a quintessential role in evangelizing the “spirit of  mission” to individuals who are suffering from the death of a loved one by relating eternal realities in a...

read more
In Praise of Life

In Praise of Life

In Praise of Life by Dr. Donald DeMarco This book illustrates how ten different factors can improve our appreciation of life: Evolution prepares it, Meaning justifies it, Love enhances it, Truth directs it, Freedom crowns it, Virtue strengthens it,...

read more
How to Flourish in a Fallen World

How to Flourish in a Fallen World

How to Flourish in a Fallen World by Dr. Donald DeMarco How to Flourish in a Fallen World, by Donald DeMarco, engages the reader in an understanding of our common human nature and the problems it faces in a culture that actively pursues, to put it in Saint...

read more
Feminine, Free and Faithful

Feminine, Free and Faithful

Feminine, Free and Faithful by Dr. Ronda Chervin Should women be feminine and forget about liberation? Or should they reject femininity as a euphemism for slavery? Women seeking fulfillment, says Chervin, aren’t faced with this either-or, but with the...

read more
The Jesus Code: In the Beginning was the Word

The Jesus Code: In the Beginning was the Word

The Jesus Code: In the Beginning was the Word by Roger Skrenes Jesus is the only person in the history of the world whose biography was known before he was born! He wanted everyone on earth to know of this miraculous Old Testament portrait of himself (Luke...

read more
The Path of Spiritual Happiness

The Path of Spiritual Happiness

The Path of Spiritual Happiness by Dr. Heather M. Erb This book is a story of the unfolding triumph of Christian happiness as a philosophy of life. We begin with ancient Greek roots and principles provided us by Aristotle, ‘the master of those who know.’...

read more
Mary, the Beloved

Mary, the Beloved

Mary, the Beloved by Keith Berube The Magisterium of the Catholic Church teaches that Mary, the Mother of God, is a grace-filled, flesh and blood woman, who unsurpassingly loves each of us by name. Mary, the Beloved, affirms that teaching, providing a...

read more
The Way of Love: The Path of Inner Transformation

The Way of Love: The Path of Inner Transformation

The Way of Love: The Path of Inner Transformation by Dr. Ronda Chervin A reprint of Dr. Ronda's The Way of Love: The Battle for Inner Transformation, this new edition under a new subtitle puts back in front of the world the nature of human love alongside...

read more
On the Third Part of the Secret of Fatima

On the Third Part of the Secret of Fatima

On the Third Part of the Secret of Fatima by Kevin J. Symonds For several decades, there has been much discussion on the famous third part of the secret of Fátima. Originally communicated to the three seers of Fátima in July, 1917, it was not written down...

read more
The Human Person: A Bioethical Word

The Human Person: A Bioethical Word

The Human Person: A Bioethical Word by Francis Etheredge Is bioethics a technical specialization or a profound expression of human being? Wonderfully answering this question, the book is beautifully enriched by eight Forewords. Beginning again and again,...

read more
Faith and Reason: The Cradle of Truth

Faith and Reason: The Cradle of Truth

Faith and Reason: The Cradle of Truth by Dr. Gerard M. Verschuuren Of course, it’s a travesty, but a very widely held one. We all have heard how some people caricature religious believers. On weekdays, they are critical, want proofs, look for arguments,...

read more
Fun is Not Enough

Fun is Not Enough

Fun is Not Enough by Fr. Francis Canavan, SJ Francis Canavan, S.J., was a professor of political science, a leading Edmund Burke scholar, and an essayist whose thoughts on faith, politics, and culture earned him accolades from many prominent Catholic minds...

read more