FAQs

The life of a seminarian is filled with prayer, study, service, and fraternity. In addition to this, there are monthly meetings with a spiritual director and a priest mentor. We also have an annual retreat before classes start, in January, and a day of recollection each semester.

The bishops of Brooklyn, Rockville Centre, and New York have chosen a trusted faculty to form seminarians. This faculty includes a rector, vice-rector, director of spiritual formation, professors who also serve as formation faculty, and a resident psychologist. The Rector, Fr. Sears, oversees all areas of the discernment and formation program. The Vice-Rector assists Fr. Sears, and is responsible for the good order of the house, and coordinates the academic program for college seminarians. The Director of Spiritual Formation is responsible for the spiritual well-being of the house, coordinating the activity of adjunct spiritual directors, and overseeing daily liturgical life, days of recollection, and retreats. He also meets regularly with his spiritual directees. Through one on one counseling and group workshops, the House Psychologist helps the seminary draw upon the insights of modern psychology, so as to form healthy, integrated men with a mature understanding of the gift of celibacy. Our professors care for the intellectual formation of seminarians, teach philosophy to the pre-theologians, and provide academic counseling so that a man might achieve excellence in his studies. The Rector, Vice-Rector, and professors also serve as formation mentors, regularly meeting with their assigned seminarians.

Cathedral Seminary is affiliated with St. Johns University, Fordham University, and St. Josephs Seminary.

Undergraduates can earn their degree at either St. Johns University or Fordham University. Seminarians may pursue whatever major they desire, but it is expected that they at least minor in philosophy and take the courses required for college seminary.

College graduates who enroll in Cathedral Seminary participate in the two-year Master of Arts in Catholic Philosophical Studies program, offered by St. Josephs Seminary, Dunwoodie. The program includes 30 credits in philosophy, 12 credits in foundational theology and Sacred Scripture, Latin, and Greek. St. Josephs Seminary is the primary seminary for the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn, and the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and is fully accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Association of Theological Schools to offer Masters degrees.

The cost of the program is comparable to that of room and board for a student living on a college campus. This is no small expense! However, seminarians and their families are not responsible for covering the cost of the seminary, thanks to the wonderful generosity of the People of God who maintain the seminary mostly through their weekly tithing in church, their donations to the bishops appeals, and their direct contributions to Cathedral Seminary House of Formation.

St. Johns University and Fordham University partner with Cathedral Seminary in offering undergraduate seminarians a 50% tuition reduction. The dioceses who send seminarians pay for the tuition of pre-theology seminarians in the MACPS program. Cathedral Seminary works with seminarians and their families to ensure that no one is excluded from the program due to financial hardship.