About

When Christ called the apostles for the mission that he was to entrust to them, he first spent years with them instructing them, unveiling himself before them, performing actions that strengthened their faith, then poured out his spirit upon them and empowered them to go and make disciples and citizens of the kingdom. Those years of discipleship with Christ were years of formation, configuration into the personality of Christ and mission; it is coming to know one’s place in the wider body of Christ; it is being together with Christ and receiving the mission mandate.

Over the years, the Catholic Church has followed this pattern of raising ministers toing the footstep of Christ, through institution of the seminaries. Here, the candidates for the Catholic priesthood, moved by the inner call to service, are brought together to learn about the master, be immersed in the apostolic spirit and be sent to their respective missions. Within the seminary walls, they grow in discipleship, develop their gifts and prepare for the future ministry in the Church. It is not something personal but profoundly communal. This character is vividly emphasized in Pastores Dabo Vobis (PDV) and the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis (RFIS) where both documents stress that the seminary is more than an academic institution: it is a community of disciples, where living and growing together is essential for the discovery and facilitation of each one’s gifts in view of priestly service. Living together in the seminary is an essential ingredient in formation. St. John Paul II affirms it in the above-named document Pastores Dabo Vobis, defining the seminary as “a community established by the bishop to offer to those called by the Lord…the possibility of reliving the experience of formation which our Lord provided for the Twelve” (PDV# 60)

 

In the light of the above, it is our mission this current academic/formation year to pay much closer attention on the joy, the benefits of living and growing together in the seminary formation. Living together in formation houses allows candidates to experience the beauty and challenge of community life. The seminary is more like a “domestic Church” where future priests learn to share joys, responsibilities and difficulties with one another. This shared life cultivates patience, forgiveness, respect, and fraternity—virtues necessary for pastoral ministry. In fact, it provides a setting by which the candidates support and inspire each other, correct each other in charity, encourage perseverance in times of difficulty, and celebrate each other’s progress. This mutual growth reflects the early Christian community which was described in the Acts of the Apostles, where believers “were of one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32).

 

We have to make this factor of living and growing together bear strongly in our formation. Actually, I always feel so glad seeing the seminarians at different community activities exhibit their heart-warming talents, be it in dramatic displays, art of speaking, cultural ceremonies, singing, leading at prayers, doing labour and other various duties, mostly performed in collaboration with others. These talents or qualities are brought to bear, thanks to their communal living where members work in collaboration, look up to one another and encouraged by various excellences and virtues in one another. It is the duty of the seminary to stimulate and re-enforce these virtues. This is why the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sarcedotis emphasized within the task of formation `the discovery, encouragement, and evaluation of each candidate’s gifts and abilities, in view of their integration into pastoral ministry’. It is a holistic formation helping them to integrate their strength and weaknesses under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to become `shepherds with the smell of the sheep’. In community life, seminarians learn to admire what others contribute—be it in intellectual study, pastoral sensitivity, liturgical skills, music, preaching, or leadership. This mutual discovery builds fraternity and instils the recognition that priestly ministry requires complementarily, since no priest possesses all gifts.

Community life offers the opportunity to discover the richness of each person’s talents. Every candidate comes with particular gifts, strengths, and experiences that can enrich the community. When both strengths and weaknesses of a person are worked upon the whole personality is developed so that the future priest becomes “a bridge and not an obstacle for others in their meeting with Jesus Christ.” (PDV#43)  It is a process which includes the recognition of one’s own gifts but also the ability to appreciate and value the gifts of one’s brothers. This is so because formation is about belonging—about discovering the profound truth that each person matters and is essential to the life of the whole. Together, we learn therefore what it means to live in Christ—not as individuals, but as members of a shared life, where we pray for one another, support one another, and help one another grow. It is our mission therefore as we strongly emphasize the spirit of complementarily and collaboration, encouraging the virtues, talents and various forms of excellence found in the seminarians. The seminarians are required here to be their brothers’ keepers in goodness, not accomplices in evil and in practicing hide and seek.

To these ends, our programmes have been arranged that they provide structured experiences which help seminarians assume responsibility, grow in collaboration and prepare for pastoral creativity in ministry. For we know that by encouraging one another’s potentials, seminarians practice the kind of priestly fraternity and pastoral teamwork that will later characterize their service in parishes and dioceses.