The Fulton Sheen House of Formation was started in Maryland–just outside of Washington, DC–in September, 1998 in order to offer priestly formation for IVE vocations in the United States, and began with only four IVE members–2 priests and 2 seminarians. The St. Isaac Jogues and Companion Martyrs Novitiate also began that same year with a couple of novices (those in their first year of formation). Because of the increase in numbers, both the Fulton Sheen House of Formation and the St. Isaac Jogues Novitiate had to move to a larger space–the former is currently located on the property of St. John Baptist de la Salle parish in Chillum, MD, and the latter is on the property of St. James parish in Mount Rainier, MD. The Fulton Sheen House of Formation, now beginning its 10th year, has 47 men in formation–its seminarians hail from the United States, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Argentina, Ecuador, India, Brazil, China, and many other countries.

The academic formation in our seminary—both philosophical and theological—is based on the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, whose work has been hailed by more than 75 popes (including John Paul II and Benedict XVI) as the most comprehensive philosophical and theological system ever established. Naturally, we study liturgy, spirituality, Sacred Scripture, and other subjects as well, and we also provide our men with three years of Latin and three years of Greek.

The apostolates of the men studying at our houses of formation vary tremendously, and each Saturday and Sunday there is a mass exodus of our seminarians to various sites in the DC area. Be it teaching catechism, leading youth groups, visiting the infirmed and aged, doing pro-life activities, or working to build the recently-started IVE publishing house, the seminarians are out each weekend to serve the Church. During the academic year classes are held at our house of formation; professors (mostly IVE priests from this province) come to teach various courses to the seminarians. The seminarians study philosophy for three years and sacred theology for four years in addition to the novitiate year, giving them the solid formation they will need for their priestly ministry. The balance between study and prayer is an essential part of formation, so Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament occurs each evening for an hour followed by Evening Prayer. Each morning, Morning Prayer is prayed together and is followed immediately by Holy Mass, and the Rosary is usually prayed together in the church before Adoration. Other activities of interest are language competitions, monthly presentations on various cultural subjects, feast day activities like visiting museums or going on hikes, our octave-long Easter celebrations, and eutrapelia, which is the virtue of spending time in good-spirited recreation for the sake both of relaxation and of the community. Friday (after homemade pizza) and Saturday nights give us time for eutrapelia together.

This is, of course, just a brief sketch of what our houses of formation are like–please take a look at the additional information in the sidebars and the FAQs if you'd like to learn more, or feel free to contact us...