Redemptoris Mater seminaries are international Catholic missionary seminaries that prepare priests from different countries for ministry. All their students belong to communities of the Neocatechumenal Way. Graduates are sent to dioceses where priestly vocations are scarce or priests are lacking. The first seminary was opened in Rome in 1987 with the permission of John Paul II. Today, such seminaries operate in many countries around the world.
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF FORMATION
The seminary and country in which a particular seminarian will study are determined by lot. Redemptoris Mater seminaries are diocesan institutions, but they also have a missionary character. During their studies, seminarians continue their spiritual formation in Neocatechumenal communities in the city where the seminary is located. Formation has its own distinctive pattern. During the first two years, seminarians live with families from the communities, where they become acquainted with Christian family life while learning the local language. For the next two years, they study philosophy. They then interrupt their academic studies and spend several years on mission, either with a team of catechists carrying out evangelisation, accompanying missionary priests, or taking part in a missio ad gentes together with families sent to secularised countries or places where Christians are a minority. After this period, they study theology. Formation lasts approximately eight years in total.
REDEMPTORIS MATER SEMINARIES IN UKRAINE
Ukraine has three Redemptoris Mater seminaries: two of the Latin rite—in Kyiv, operating since 2003, and Vinnytsia, since 2010—and one of the Greek Catholic rite in Uzhhorod, operating since 2013. Fifteen seminarians from Ukraine, Poland, Italy, the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Paraguay are currently studying at the Vinnytsia seminary. The students of the Redemptoris Mater seminary in Kyiv study together with the seminarians of the local diocesan Seminary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Redemptoris Mater seminary in Uzhhorod is the second seminary of this kind in an Eastern rite; the first operates in Lebanon. Ukraine has two Neocatechumenal communities belonging to the Greek Catholic rite, in Lviv and Uzhhorod.