1. Emotional Intelligence for Priestly Formation

Make human formation concrete, developmental, and measurable.

The Church has articulated a rich vision of human formation. We help institutions operationalize that vision through emotional intelligence—translating broad formation ideals into specific capacities that can be understood, practiced, observed, and developed.

Using the EQ-i 2.0, a leading research-based assessment of fifteen emotional and social skills, we design and deliver formation for seminarians, priests, newly ordained clergy, pastors, and formation personnel.

Depending on your needs, this could include:

EQ-i 2.0 assessment and individual debriefing

Each priest or seminarian completes the EQ-i 2.0 and receives a confidential individual debrief identifying strengths, developmental priorities, and practical implications for formation, relationships, leadership, and ministry.

Individual Human Formation Plans

We translate assessment results, formation observations, and institutional priorities into a focused development plan with specific goals, practical exercises, and observable indicators of progress.

Formation courses and workshops

We deliver a single workshop, multi-session course, or extended cohort process covering capacities such as self-awareness, emotional expression, assertiveness, empathy, relationships, emotional regulation, flexibility, stress tolerance, reality testing, and decision-making.

For example, a diocesan priest cohort of newly ordained priests or new pastors might complete six formation modules over six months, applying each emotional-intelligence capacity to priestly leadership, celibacy, fraternity, conflict, boundaries, and pastoral ministry.

Individual and cohort coaching

We work directly with priests or seminarians to apply formation content to their actual lives and responsibilities.

For example, a new pastor might receive coaching on assertiveness, staff conflict, stress tolerance, or difficult decisions, while a seminarian might work on emotional expression, relationships, self-confidence, or receptivity to feedback.

Seminary faculty and formator development

We train formators to recognize emotional and relational patterns, give clearer feedback, conduct difficult developmental conversations, and connect observations to specific human-formation capacities.

This could include a faculty workshop, shared behavioral benchmarks, case-based practice, and tools for writing more focused Individual Formation Plans.

Summer seminarian formation

We help vocation directors prevent human formation from disappearing during the summer.

This could include preparing supervising pastors, establishing summer formation goals, coaching seminarians, gathering structured feedback, and connecting summer experiences to the seminarian’s continuing formation plan.

Progress review and reassessment

We help institutions determine whether formation is producing observable growth.

This may include periodic review of formation goals, participant feedback, follow-up coaching, behavioral indicators, and EQ-i 2.0 reassessment when appropriate. Institutional leaders may also receive aggregate, nonconfidential insights about common cohort needs.

2. Institutional Stewardship of Priests

Move from fragmented programs and crisis response to a proactive strategy for priestly flourishing.

Priestly flourishing cannot depend entirely on the strength or initiative of the individual priest. Church institutions need coherent systems for forming, assigning, supporting, developing, and holding priests appropriately accountable throughout ministry.

We partner with Church leaders to design the strategy and, where needed, provide the added capacity to implement it—including direct formation and coaching for priests.

Depending on your needs, this could include:

Strategic planning for priestly flourishing

We conduct a structured review of how the diocese, religious community, and seminary currently form and supports priests/seminarins, identify strengths and gaps, establish priorities, and develop a practical multi-year strategy of comprehensive and proactive institutional stewardship of priests.

The resulting plan could define desired outcomes, major initiatives, responsibilities, timelines, resources, and measures of progress.

Clergy-support operating model

We help clarify how the bishop or superior, vicar for clergy, personnel office, wellness providers, formation leaders, mentors, and other partners work together.

This could produce clearly defined roles, referral pathways, decision responsibilities, an annual clergy-support calendar, and a process for coordinating cases without confusing pastoral, clinical, canonical, and administrative responsibilities.

Ongoing formation, wellness, and fraternity

We help replace disconnected events with a coherent annual approach to priest development.

For example, we could design an integrated formation calendar connecting spiritual renewal, human formation, leadership development, health, fraternity, and stage-of-life needs rather than treating each as a separate initiative.

Personnel and assignment practices

We help leaders incorporate priest development and assignment fit into personnel discernment.

This could include priest and parish profiles, clearer assignment criteria, advance forecasting of openings, succession planning, leadership-readiness considerations, and a more structured process for understanding the needs of both the priest and the parish.

Ministerial transitions and follow-up

We help institutions support priests before, during, and after significant transitions.

This could include transition checklists, parish handoff materials, assignment orientation, clarification of early priorities, and structured conversations at 30, 90, and 180 days.

Newly ordained and new pastor development

We design formation processes for priests entering periods of heightened responsibility and vulnerability.

A newly ordained program might combine coaching, fraternity, boundaries, resilience, and adjustment to active ministry. A new pastor program might focus on people management, conflict, decision-making, parish culture, change leadership, and personal sustainability.

Leadership identification and succession

We help Church leaders identify priests with the capacity for future pastoral or diocesan leadership and provide intentional development before placing them in demanding roles.

This could include leadership profiles, assessment, coaching, developmental assignments, mentoring, and succession planning for key parishes or diocesan responsibilities.

Feedback, support, and accountability

We help institutions create regular, credible feedback processes before difficulties become crises.

This could include baseline expectations for priestly life and ministry, annual development conversations, 360-degree feedback, parish-transition reviews, or individualized support and accountability plans.

Early intervention and coordinated support

We help leaders recognize emerging difficulties and respond earlier with greater clarity.

This could include an early-concern framework, consultation on appropriate next steps, a coordinated developmental plan, direct coaching, defined progress indicators, and collaboration with clinical, canonical, spiritual, or other professionals when needed.

Presbyteral and organizational culture

We help leaders understand and strengthen the culture surrounding their priests.

This could include confidential listening, surveys, trust assessments, leadership-team facilitation, fraternity structures, communication planning, or a focused initiative to build a culture of high support and high accountability.

Measurement and continuous improvement

We help institutions determine whether their clergy-support efforts are producing meaningful results.

This could include a small set of indicators related to participation, well-being, morale, leadership development, institutional support, early intervention, transitions, and program effectiveness—reviewed regularly to guide improvement.