By 2025 SVD Formation Day Committee
The USA SVD Formation Day, a three-day event held annually in Iowa, brings together the seminarians from the three SVD formation houses in the United States to strengthen their bonds and support one another on their vocational journey.
Currently, there are 27 SVD seminarians at Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa; four at the novitiate in Northbrook, Ill.; and 29 at the Divine Word Theologate in Chicago.
Every year, seminarians and formators from the Theologate, along with the novices and their novice director from Northbrook, make the trip to Iowa to connect with those at Divine Word College.
This year, Father Adam Oleszczuk SVD, provincial of the Chicago Province, attended to engage with the seminarians, delivered a talk and presided over the concluding Mass. The Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters (SSpS), staff and other students at the college also support and accompanied us in prayers, sharing, meals and a volleyball tournament.
The theme of the 2025 USA SVD Formation Day, “Building Each Other Up to Witness the Light,” captures the essence of this three-day gathering. It reflects the very goal of the program, which was proposed by an SVD seminarian in 2021.
In his proposal to launch this event, Baruch Zinsou stated, “The journey is full of ups and downs. I thank God for sending me so many SVD seminarians during moments of doubt and confusion. With them, I learn to listen to God’s voice rather than be a slave to my fear and doubt.”
This statement, which profoundly captures our shared reality in ways beyond words, gave birth to the USA SVD Formation Day in 2022. Thus, this initiative celebrates the spirit of active companionship among SVD seminarians, while also honoring and complementing the ongoing accompaniment of our formators and all those who support us in our effort to respond to the call to witness to the light.
The SVD Formation Day reminds us that the God who has called us has gifted us with one another and has invited us to actively contribute to building each other up, so we may be witnesses to the light.
During this three-day encounter, the SVD seminarians, contributed to each other’s growth through social gatherings, small group discussions and presentations. The topics included community life, interculturality, Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), the Cross-Cultural Training Program (CTP), novitiate, vows, brotherhood, first assignment and ordination.
While these activities were primarily led by and for SVD seminarians, the program is designed to be inclusive and create space for all to accompany us.
Brother Brian McLauchlin SVD, a professor at Divine Word College, highlighted the importance of building each other up during Friday’s opening prayer.
Father Timothy Lenchak, novice director and presider at Saturday’s Mass, illustrated this with the image of Sequoia trees, supporting each other through their outspread and intertwined roots.
Father Oleszczuk emphasized intentionality, openness and forgiveness in building community during his Saturday talk and Sunday Mass.
The collaboration of SVD seminarians, staff, SSpS sisters, students and many others contribute to making this event a meaningful experience for all.
God calls each of us in unique ways, at different times, but we are all invited to the same mission. Contributing to this mission, as St. Paul repeatedly emphasizes in his letters, requires a mutual effort to build each other up.
Proverbs 27:17 poetically expresses this in these words: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” An effort that is, of course, especially nurtured through our personal and collective ongoing encounter with the three Persons of the Trinity.
Over the course of the SVD Formation Day, we lived this out by deepening our brotherly relationships and gaining valuable insights that not only support our vocational calls but also enhance our ability to participate in the Mission of our community and the Church.
However, the mission of continuing to minister to one another and build each other up remains ongoing, as this support is more necessary than ever.