Sr. Marysia Weber, R.S.M., M.A., D.O., joins WCAT Radio Host, Dr. Mary Anne Urlakis for Episode 21 of “Vows, Vocations, and Promises: Discerning the Call of Love,” to discuss her chapter, entitled “Affective Maturity: Markers of Human Development, Psychological Insights and Resources,” in the new text Spiritual Husbands- Spiritual Fathers: Priestly Formation for the 21st Century.

Sr. Marysia is a board-certified physician, specializing in psychiatry with a fellowship in consulting-liaison psychiatry; she completed her residency and training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Sister earned a Master’s Degree in Theology from Notre Dame. Sr. Marysia Weber practiced psychiatry at her religious institute’s multidisciplinary clinic- Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center, in Alma, MI from 1988-2014. In 2014, Sr. Marysia accepted the role of Director of the Office of Consecrated Life for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, where she is also a member of the Archdiocesan Review Board, the Child Safety Committee, a facilitator for Project Rachel, the Chair of the Board of Directors for MyCatholic Doctor, and an executive board member of the St. Louis Guild of the Catholic Medical Association, and an executive board member for the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology. Sister also serves as an Adjunct Clinical Instructor in the Dept of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis. Additionally, Sr. Marysia has published numerous articles in peer reviewed journals and has authored a number of books and chapters- including Chapter 9, in Spiritual Husbands- Spiritual Fathers, which is the subject of this interview. Sr. Marysia is a highly sought-after speaker and expert, and has presented to the Curia, at the Vatican in 2002 regarding the Sexual Abuse by Clergy in North American.

In this interview, Sr. Marysia discusses the important process of assessing the development of human formation and affective maturity of seminarians as prospective candidates for the ministerial priesthood. Recent directives, including the 2008 Guidelines for the Use of Psychology in Administration and Formation of Seminarians for the Priesthood from the Congregation for Catholic Education, the 2016 Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis from the Congregation for the Clergy, and the most recent edition of the USCCB’s Program for Priestly Formation all stress the sacred duty of bishops and formations to assess the totality the human person when considering the suitability of seminarians for ordained priestly ministry. Utilizing the six-interrelated markers that are common to all major psychological theories of development, Sr. Marysia has developed an on-going tool to assist seminary formators charged with the task of assessing the capacities of seminarians to fulfill the role of spiritual husband and spiritual father which is at the core of the vocation of the priesthood.

Sr. Marysia’s Chapter 9, entitled: Affective Maturity: Markers of Human Development, Psychological Insights, and Resources, is published in Spiritual Husbands- Spiritual Fathers: Priestly Formation for the 21st Century,Spiritual Husbands- Spiritual Fathers: Priestly Formation for the 21st Century, edited by Bishop Felipe Estevez and Bishop Andrew Cozzens, published by Holy Apostles College and Seminary’s Enroute Books and Media, which is available at: https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/spiritualhusbands/.