Morning Holy Hour
Breakfast
Classes all morning
Four 45-minute periods with breaks in between. These classes cover a variety of subjects, with some being like lectures and some more like seminars, all with good opportunities for discussion.
Holy Mass
Lunch
The Afternoon
In their afternoons, seminarians either do a pastoral placement, independent study, or have one-to-one meetings with their formation tutor, spiritual director or human development support.
Early evening
Once a week there will be a house talk at this time, given by a spiritual director or member of staff, and always on a spiritual theme.
Evenings
The evenings are generally free for students to choose what they want to do, whether that be socialising, studying or just relaxing on their own.
Morning prayer
Morning classes
These classes are less academic and more focused on spiritual and human development.
Lunch
Community rosary
Free time
Holy Mass
On Sundays, students head out to local parishes for Mass. All seminarians belong to one of our six house groups and each of them is connected to a local parish. Attending Mass at those parishes really allows them to get to know the people there.
Lunch
Dean’s coffee
In the afternoon there is a space for students to share with the dean any concerns they have and make any suggestions.
Public evening prayer
On Sunday nights, people from outside of the college join us for our evening prayer.
What is it like to train to become a priest? What is life in our seminary like? Take a read of stories and reflections from our students.
Academic term life
The year is marked by the normal rhythms of academic life, with reading weeks twice a year and exam season too.
Days of recollection
These days are 24-hour periods of recollection that happen within the college.
Days of retreat
In Advent and Holy Week we host days of retreat for our community inside the college, always led by a guest retreat leader.
Pastoral study days
These take place four times a year and are led by an external expert who will share their knowledge on a particular topic with our community.
House retreat
At the end of the year, all students leave for a retreat outside of the college, which has often been a pilgrimage.
Schools outreach programme
In the summer, hundreds of schoolchildren from the Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of Birmingham come to Oscott and the seminarians show them around, give some input and take questions from the children.
A first-hand experience of what seminary life is like, these weekends are designed for those discerning the Catholic priesthood.
Talking helps. If you are curious about or interested in the Catholic priesthood, we can connect you with a member of our team or a seminarian who would be happy to answer your questions and share about this way of life.