June 21, 2023
Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious
Dear Friends in Christ,
I am pleased to announce movements within our diocese that will allow us to continue to grow in missionary discipleship and holiness.
First, in 2021 God blessed us by sending members of the religious community of Pro Ecclesia Sancta (PES), whose name means “for the holiness of the Church.” With two PES priests serving in Mitchell, and PES sisters and a men’s formation house with a PES priest and PES brothers in the Sioux Falls area great things have been happening.
While the PES sisters will remain in Sioux Falls, the PES leaders have discerned that the PES priest and brothers in the formation house should move to Mitchell to be closer to the PES priests and get joint formation in parish life with multiple PES priests. Both the PES sisters and brothers will continue working at the Bishop O’Gorman schools. The sisters will also continue working in parishes throughout the diocese.
The Nazareth House where the PES brothers lived this past year will be used for housing men in discernment and formation for the priesthood as Sioux Falls diocesan priests. As you may be aware Pope Francis has asked dioceses to have a Propaedeutic Stage of formation before a man is full time in studies and formation in a seminary. This also allows time for those responsible for recommending a man for the seminary to better know a man’s readiness and sense of his call to the priesthood.
The goal is to help a man develop his prayer life, gain a foundational knowledge of Scripture and the Catechism, and provide for individualized opportunities of personal human growth. This allows them to be able to receive seminary formation more freely, fully, fruitfully and with a clearer and more developed understanding and response to God’s vocational call.
So, I ask for your prayers as we continue to grow in holiness, spiritually and humanly, for full flourishing in our journey to heaven together by living our Catholic faith dynamically as Lifelong Catholic Missionary Disciples Through God’s Love.
In the love of the Lord,
Most Reverend Donald E. DeGrood
Bishop of Sioux Falls