An Omaha-based organisation formed more than 20 years ago to emphasise faith formation of diocesan seminarians and priests has been official erected as a clerical public association. The Institute for Priestly Formation's Priests of St Joseph community gained official status within the Archdiocese of Omaha last month. Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha's signing of the decree followed a two-year period of discernment as Fr Richard Gabuzda, a founder of the institute and its executive director, and Fr Jim Rafferty, a member of the institute's leadership team, worked to clarify its ministry and mission. "We began this saying, 'Lord, if you want this to be, show us, guide us,'" recalled Fr Gabuzda. "God must want it to be – it's come about." As an association, the institute's Priests of St Joseph will be able to invite both internal members – a small community in Omaha based in a house near St Cecilia's Cathedral that has been shared by Fr Gabuzda and Fr Rafferty – and external members, who Fr Gabuzda described as "diocesan priests who will live within their own diocese, but still feel a call to work for the spiritual benefit of other priests". The new association calls for members to make not only the traditional vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, but also vows of nurturing the interior life of priests, Fr Gabuzda said. Archbishop Lucas said he welcomed the establishment of the Priests of St Joseph. "Priests who discern with their bishops a call to membership in this association will continue to strengthen and enrich the mission of the Institute for Priestly Formation," the archbishop said. The next step, Fr Gabuzda said, will be admitting members. "There is a whole process, an inquiry phase, a candidacy phase," he said. With the support of their bishops, candidates can examine the statutes, which make clear the association's mission and the process of becoming a member. Fr Joseph Taphorn, moderator of the curia, vicar for clergy and judicial vicar of the archdiocese, said the two-year period of discernment allowed Fr Gabuzda to refine and articulate the charism of the association. "The decision to move ahead wasn't difficult, because of the good track record and the obvious fruit of IPF," Fr Taphorn said. "The idea of erecting an association to serve that ministry and to provide priests to serve that ministry makes a lot of sense. It's bearing incredible fruit, not just for Omaha but for the Church universal." Recognition by the archbishop also gives the association stability going forward and "the benefit of Archbishop Lucas' supervision, so that we always remain what the church needs us to be," Fr Rafferty said. In another development, Fr Gabuzda, after being released by the Diocese of Scranton in Pennsylvania, to live and work in Omaha for the institute's 20 years, has been officially incardinated as a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha. "It seems like the Lord wants me to be involved in this for the rest of my days," he said. Fr Rafferty, a member of the Scranton diocese currently based at the Institute for Priestly Formation, said it was wonderfully symbolic for the Priests of St Joseph to be erected as a clerical public association on St John Paul II's feast day. "His own teaching about priesthood and priestly formation is very close to the heart of what we do," Fr Rafferty told the Catholic Voice, Omaha's archdiocesan newspaper. Fr Taphorn said the association's task now will be to spread the word among priests that the association's charism has been articulated and is open to receiving members. "I think there will be great opportunities there," Fr Taphorn said.