Tuesday Conference

Theology e-magazine

To make humanity united in worshipping God

New Document on Seminary

Formation
Dear Father,
Tuesday

Conference

Our Heavenly Patron

r each es

you

the

latest

document from Vatican on the Formation of Seminarians.

This document has received wide attention in various corners
across the globe for many reasons. Of course the document as
expected is not radical but it reaffirms, renews, and rediscover the
gifts seminarians want to nurture.
The Vaticans Congregation for the Clergy has issued an
updated instrument for the formation of priests. The document,
entitled Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis otherwise
known as The Gift of Priestly Vocation, was promulgated on
the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, 8 Dec, a 90-page
document.

It seemed that the formation of Priests

needed to be revamped, renewed, and
restored to the centre.

The new guidelines are intended to be implemented across the

board, including by bishops conferences, religious orders ;
although each country is expected to produce its own national
guidelines based on the Ratios text.

Page - 02

Introduction

Only if we
feel
ourselves to
be a part of
Christ, the
Church, and
the

Kingdom,
will we
journey well
through the
Seminary
Years - Pope
Francis

The document is a revision of the Basic Plan for Priestly

Formation issued in 1970 which was later updated in 1985.
Those documents were both issued by the Congregation for
Catholic Education.
The updated document draws
heavily on St. John Paul II's 1992
apostolic
exhortation
on
priestly
formation, as well as on the teaching of
and norms issued by Pope Benedict XVI
and Pope Francis and by Vatican offices
over the past three decades. Today some
seminarians have returned to
establishing a
rigidity that is
not close to a
discernment of
situations.
The document, draws on Pastores Dabo Vobis of 1992 to
promote an integral formation, that is, the ability to unite, in a
balanced way,

the human,
the spiritual,
intellectual,
pastoral dimensions,
through a gradual instructional personalised course.

The gift of the priestly vocation, placed by God in the hearts of some
men, obliges the Church to propose to them a serious journey of
formation, the opening line of the document reads.

The Why of the new Document

Page - 03

and black.

Cardinal Stella, one of the Popes most trusted aides noted

that the new version of the fundamentals was necessary because
the historical, socio-cultural and ecclesiastical contexts have
changed since the document was last updated in 1985. Also they
have been encouraged and enlightened by the Magisterium of
Pope Francis.
Significant changes have happened regarding;

No! In life

the image or vision of the priest,

shades of

the spiritual needs of the People of God,

gray

the challenges of the new evangelization,

In life, not
everything
is black and
white, white

predominat
e. We must
then teach
how to
discern
within this
gray.
Pope
Francis

the language of communication, and many more.

The aim to move
away from
rigidity in the
interests of
fostering greater
pastoral
discernment and
accompaniment.

The Overall Vision of the Document

The prefect himself has given us a moving commentary of the document and
he says 3 words encapsulate the overall vision of the document

Humanity,
Spirituality,
Discernment.
Reminds seminarians that, the desire alone to become a priest is not
sufficient, and there does not exist a right to receive sacred ordination. It
belongs to the Church to discern the suitability of him who desires to enter
the seminary, to accompany him during his years of formation, and to call
him to holy orders if he is judged to possess the necessary qualities.

A) Humanity

Page - 04

The need for the seminarian to be accompanied by a process of growth that

will make him humanly balanced, serene and stable. Only then, the priest will have
the traits of

being amiable,
genuine, loyal,
inwardly free,
emotionally stable,
able to be interested in peaceful interrelationships
to live the Gospel without rigidity.
B) Spirituality
Cardinal Stella says cultivating the spiritual
life with discipline can overcome a sacral or
bureaucratic vision of ministry and instead form
priests to be enthusiastic for the Gospel, capable
of thinking with the Church and being

compassionate and merciful.

C) Discernment
Drawing heavily on the words and thinking of Pope Francis, Cardinal Stella
says those who follow the way of the Gospel and immerse themselves into life of
the Spirit overcome the ideological approach of rigorists, discovering that the
processes and situations of life can not be classified by inflexible schemes or
abstract rules, but they need to listen, dialogue and interpret the movements of the
heart.
Discernment is needed even

more to accompany and read

in depth the more complex life
situations, for which often the
people entrusted to us are
scarred, weighed down and
wounded.

The Newness of the Document

Catholic
priests must
be
promoters
of an
appropriate
care for
everything
connected
to the
protection
of creation.

The

1. Seminarians should be encouraged to use social media to

build relationships and for evangelization, the guidelines say.
2. Seminarians' ability to relate to and work with women be
considered in the candidate's evaluation, since the majority of
parishioners with whom the future priest will work are
women.
3. Acknowledges that many of the skills needed to be a
good priest cannot be
learned in a classroom.
They are the result of
prayer,
self-discipline
and seeking to model
one's behavior on that of
Christ, the document
says.

document

has

many
One important innovation

good suggestions for;

pastoral training of priests

education in social teaching of the

church

Page - 05

the involvement of
seminary training.

women

in

is the introduction of a
propaedeutic period upon entrance
to the Seminary. It must be not
less than one year or more than
two and is meant to validate the
vocation of candidates.

The guidelines have added three stages to priestly formation:

the stage of discipleship,
configuration stage,

pastoral stage,
to each of which corresponds an itinerary and a formative content, orientated
toward an assimilation with the image of the Good Shepherd.

Page - 06

The Newness of the Document , Contd.

4. Emphasizes the need for dioceses and religious orders to guard against
admitting potential sex abusers to the priesthood.
5. It adds that lessons on the protection of minors are to be included in
formation, including how to deal with exploitation and violence such as
trafficking of minors, child labor, and sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable
adults.
6. Seminars and courses on the protection of children and vulnerable adults
must be part of both seminary education and the continuing education of
priests.
7. The document also recommends that bishops responsible for seminaries be
in dialogue with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors,
established by Pope Francis in 2013.

Some Issues Identified in the Document

This document deals with issues of ;
1. clericalism,
2. homosexuality,
3. the protection of minors, among other things.

1. Clericalism
It says that seminarians should be educated so that they do not become prey
to 'clericalism', nor yield to the temptation of modelling their lives on the search
for popular consensus. This would inevitably lead them to fall short in exercising
their ministry as leaders of the community, leading them to think about the
Church as a merely human institution.
It reiterates that priestly
ordination, while making its

recipient a leader of the

people, should not lead

him to 'lord it over' the
flock.

Page - 07

2. Homosexuality continues to
be a thorny issue

3. The protection of minors

The document has reaffirmed

The Church must be vigilant that

the existing Vatican instruction that

seminarians have not been involved in any

homosexuals may not be admitted to

way

seminaries.

the

behaviour in this area and that formators

Catholic

must ensure that those who have had

It

quotes

Congregation

for

from

Education's 2005 instruction

that

the Church cannot admit to the

with

any

crime

or

problematic

painful experience in this area receive

special and suitable accompaniment.

seminary or to holy orders those

who practise homosexuality, present

Seminarians begin to study

deep-seated homosexual tendencies

this latest Vatican doc.

or

support

the

so-called

culture'.

'gay

Students of the Aquinas College in Odisha,

managed by the Congregation of the Mission,

have taken up the study of the latest Vatican document on priestly formation.
It is our earnest desire that our seminarians study the updated version of the
document on priestly formation, college dean Fr Pratap Chandra Misal.
We have started to study the doc so that we
are able to appreciate the gift of our call to be
missionaries, and face the challenges and live
it in a worthy manner interiorizing its depth
with conviction.
said Bachan Singh, a 2nd year student of philosophy.

Conclusion
The purpose of releasing this issue is to understand the valuable information
about priestly formation and to appreciate, cherish the vocation. Seminary is an
educating community.

Seminaries are to be
facilitated with advanced
technological training, and
access to modern media

Learning the art of spiritual warfare is the goal we

equipping them to respond to all aim to. This document has the riches to
demands of the time.
provide with us in our journey to discipleship.
Editor: Tony Maliyekal VC.

Published from Vincentian Vidyabhavan, Aluva.