As a seminarian for the Diocese of Columbus, Nicholas Arnold has stepped away from the world to discern a possible vocation to the priesthood.

He’s in the propaedeutic (or preliminary) stage, which he says is comparable to a “yearlong retreat,” at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology in Cincinnati.

“It’s a great time to sit with the Lord and get used to the seminary lifestyle, have that time apart where you’re really just focused on one thing, and that’s ‘Who am I? Who am I in relation to the Father? And then, where am I going?’”

Arnold, a parishioner at Granville St. Edward the Confessor Church who graduated from Ohio State University in 2023 with a degree in materials science and engineering, is one of several diocesan seminarians studying at Mount St. Mary’s this year.

The diocese sent several seminarians working on a master’s degree to the Cincinnati seminary. Other first-year seminarians working toward an undergraduate degree in philosophy are studying at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus.

The propaedeutic stage is designed to be spent primarily in prayer and discernment, easing the propaedudes into seminary life without the pressure of academics.

Arnold said the propaedeutic men currently take three classes, which equate to nine credit hours this semester. However, most of their time is spent praying and discerning if God is calling them.

“Because discernment is the focus of the year, you can’t make classes an excuse, or they can’t come up as a ‘distraction’ because there’s still good in classes, but our primary function (is) discerning this is where I should be,” he said.

“And then, you’ve got that extra time to sit with it, talk with the other guys, especially get some mentoring from the older guys and see what wisdom they have in regard to discernment.”

At Mount St. Mary’s, the propaedudes begin their day at 6:30 a.m. with morning prayer, part of the Liturgy of the Hours prayed by the clergy daily, and Mass. Then they head to their first class.

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the men take one class in the morning, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they have two. Arnold said the men are enrolled in the same classes, which include dogma and Catechism moral life and the history of Christian spirituality.

He said the classes expose them to the “basic levels” of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the sacraments and canon, or Church, law. The first year of seminary at Mount St. Mary’s is comparable to a typical graduate school program mixed with prayer, he said.

Midday prayer, which is another part of the Liturgy of the Hours, is optional for the men. Some choose to pray it privately; others pray it in communion with other seminarians.

In the evenings, the men gather for a holy hour at 5 p.m. The hour includes the recitation of the rosary and 20 minutes of personal prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and it concludes with evening prayer as a community. They gather again for Compline, or night prayer, at 9 p.m.

Spending a year focused on prayer, such as praying the Liturgy of the Hours throughout the day, can help a man discern whether he is called to the priesthood.

“God’s not going to put you anywhere that you’re not going to belong, and so, if you’re not meant to be a priest, a big part of that is just praying the Hours,” Arnold said. “If that’s really difficult, that might be an indicator.”

By having ample amounts of time for prayer and discernment, seminarians are “immersed in it,” Arnold said, to the point that they will likely know if they are called to the priesthood or not.

Propaedudes also have formation conferences twice a week on Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon that focus on psychological elements of growing in Christian maturity, authentic friendship and having a “relationship toward the world in an ordered way.”

Having an ordered relationship with the world includes properly using tools such as technology. They learn good practices for living an ordered life with electronic devices, such as smart phones, so the tools do not “overtake” them, Arnold said.

They practice an “electronics fast,” he said, and turn their cell phones into the seminary office at the beginning of the academic year.

The men receive their cell phones for breaks, but they fast from using cell phones in seminary. They are given an iPad for research and writing papers, which is otherwise kept in a locker in the seminary’s computer lab.

The men also do not consume media such as YouTube or Netflix privately. When they do, it’s done “in a more structured, public sense,” Arnold said.

On Monday evenings and sometimes Sundays, he said, the director of the propaedeutic year arranges for the men to watch a Catholic-themed movie. Arnold said he noticed significant effects by not using electronic devices regularly.

“A big thing for me – attention span, I think, has gone up quite a bit,” he said. “I’ve gotten into reading quite a bit more. … My ability to just sit down and read has gone up exponentially.”

Not consuming media has opened up more time for personal prayer, spiritual reading and other hobbies that bring the men closer to God. Arnold is currently doing a “deep-dive into the Gospels,” he said.

He is also reading “The Spirit of the Liturgy” by Joseph Ratzinger (who became Pope Benedict XVI), as well as works by St. Thomas Aquinas and Vatican II and Church documents.

And he is reading spiritual classics such as “The Confessions” by St. Augustine. “The Interior Castle” by St. Teresa of Avila is next on his list. Reading works by the saints led him to draw parallels to his own life experiences.

“Especially Augustine … a lot of the things he struggled with I could also look at and see, ‘Oh, OK,’ he’s describing something I’ve also encountered,” Arnold said. 

“Having that ability to connect with the saints, through time, there are rhythms and patterns to the spiritual life that don’t ever go away and just manifest themselves in different ways. That’s been incredibly good. 

“Whenever I have something where it’s like, ‘How do I even process through this or pray through this?’ Typically, Augustine’s got it.”

Arnold is also using his time in seminary to learn how to write icons. Iconography is an Eastern Catholic tradition. He said he has a “real love” for the “simple art form,” which includes using lines to make a 2D image appear 3D.

“Each icon is specific because a bishop has to approve it,” he said. “And the icon, according to tradition, is supposed to be a window into heaven for that saint or that depiction. They’re not meant to be played around with stylistically. This is a view of heaven, essentially.”

Arnold has worked with his formation director to learn how to write icons. Iconography is a good way for him to focus on the “intricacies of God” and “how He’s worked in the world.”

Others engage in various sacred art forms.

“Some guys like to whittle, where you’re making stuff out of wood,” he said. “Other guys are into painting or mosaics. Some guys are into music, so it all varies depending on your personality.”

During the week, the men also gather for small-group Bible studies.

“We go through the readings for the coming Sunday to see what stuck out, get used to that idea of looking ahead to the Sunday and how you’d prep a homily,” Arnold said. “It’s kind of a soft practice in that skill.”

On Sundays, there is Mass at 8:15 a.m. followed by breakfast with all of the seminarians.

Seminarians eat all of their meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner – “in common,” Arnold said, or with each other. For the propaedeutic men, this is an opportunity to converse with seminarians who are further along in their formation.

They go off campus twice a month in groups for an apostolic mission that could include visiting nursing homes or serving at a St. Vincent de Paul food pantry.

Arnold is in a group serving at the food pantry, which, he said, is similar to a small grocery store. He said it is a good opportunity to encounter people, many of whom are impoverished and new to the area or new to the country, serve them and learn about their lives.

They also go to a gym off campus several times per week to exercise, but otherwise they remain on campus. They have a landline phone and a seminarian email account to use for communication with their families during the academic year.

With a growing number of men such as Arnold entering seminary this year, the Diocese of Columbus launched “A Good and Growing Need” campaign to ask for prayerful and monetary support in funding the cost of seminary formation.

To donate, online giving is available now at www.ColumbusCatholicGiving.org/Seminarian-Support-Fund. A second collection will also be taken at Masses throughout the diocese during the weekend of Feb. 24-25.