To augment his year of pastoral formation, Jaroslav Girovsky, of Slovakia, recently spent two months
at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary.

Jaroslav’s journey from his hometown of Trebišov, Slovakia, to Pittsburgh was years in the making.  Although he felt the calling to become a priest as early as childhood, he was not without his doubts.  At age 15, Jaroslav spoke with the new priest assigned to his parish.  Jaroslav notes this was a decision only he could make, but he gives his priest credit for influencing his final decision to enter the seminary at age 18.

At the Greek-Catholic seminary in Prešov, students enter a seven-year masters degree program. The first three years are focused on philosophy and psychology. After completing the third year, seminarians leave to complete a year of pastoral formation.

Many of Jaroslav’s fellow seminarians chose to work with charity organizations in Slovakia.

When asked how he came to the U.S. for pastoral formation, Jaroslav feels this was God’s will.  He had met Bishop John Kudrick of Parma when he was in Slovakia for an ordination.  For his year of pastoral formation, Jaroslav traveled to Parma in July 2008, where he lived with Bishop Kudrick.  He spent his time working in the chancery, and traveling and visiting parishioners with the Bishop.  Jaroslav first came to the Byzantine Catholic Seminary to participate in spiritual retreats with the other seminarians.  He then asked Bishop John to spend time at the Seminary observing and sitting  in on classes. Bishop John agreed, and Jaroslav came to the Seminary on Jan. 9.

At the Seminary, Jaroslav is particularly impressed with the relationships between individual seminarians and those of the seminarians with the faculty.  “They are friends, they eat lunch together, but there is always respect in the classroom,” he notes.

Another of Jaroslav’s observations is that the freedom enjoyed by the Byzantine Catholic Seminary students is helpful in the process of becoming a priest.  “This freedom teaches seminarians to be focused on what you are doing and why you are doing it,” he says.  He feels that if all a student’s time is spent in learning and studying the priesthood, he could lose sight of why he is becoming a priest.

Jaroslav enjoys the classes at the Seminary.  Many focus on “how to understand and work with people,” he says.  In his opinion, the education students receive at the Seminary is particularly good and motivating, above all because in these times people question everything.  “For example, priests today are challenged by the younger generation to answer scripture questions and so having that practical knowledge is very important,” he states. 

In spending time visiting various parishes, churches, one of the differences Jaroslav has noticed between the U.S. and Slovakia is that the U.S. churches seem more Eastern.  Under Communism in Slovakia, participation in the Eastern churches was forbidden while the Latin rite was tolerated by the government.  As a result, churches in Slovakia are still finding their way back to their roots.