SAN LORENZO RUIZ SEMINARY

Sem. John Paul E. Siñel Phenomenology/Existentialism

3rd Year Philosophy Rev. Fr. Albert John F. Fietas

Karl Jasper’s Concept of Choice as a Principle in Building Authentic Relationship

I. Introduction

San Lorenzo Ruiz Seminary pastoral formation necessitates that seminarians should be
trained on how to acquire the ability to involve themselves with true pastoral concern in the lives
of the faithful. The institution has programs like Summer Apostolate. The said apostolate during
summer vacations serves as one of the means of developing closer relationships not only among
the seminarians themselves, not only the seminarians and the personnel but also between the
seminary and the parish priest together with the lay faithful whom the seminarians must have a
regular opportunity to visit. Particular attention should be paid to the preparation of the
seminarians for correct, authentic, and healthy relationships.1

Hence, pastoral formation in the seminary is concretely applied and furthermore

developed in the apostolates which serve as seminarians’ immersion into pastoral life. The
researcher comes up with his study because of the disturbing experiences of building
relationships when he is in the parish and summer apostolates. As a third-year philosophy
student who is assigned to different parishes and towns within the Tablas island of Romblon the
researcher has experienced different parish priests and lay people with different personalities and
characters. During this period the researcher struggled and doubted building an authentic
relationship, especially with the parish priest. Building a relationship with the lay in ministerial
work in the parish was a challenge because of the varying character and personalities of each
parish worker. Let us say that the Altar server’s ministry is composed of young men and the
Catholic Women’s league is usually a collection of grownup women and elderly. Hence,
building authentic relationships was also been a problem for the researcher. These groups have
cultures diverse from each other which both required different attention and approach. The
weakness of the researcher to build up a relationship with the parish priest and the lay leaders in
the parish has made his apostolate less productive.

The researcher who wanted to improve himself in the said area of seminary formation
tends to find a means of improvement by studying Karl Jasper’s philosophical view of “Choice”
and applying it in order to build authentic relationships. The researcher will use resources such as
books, encyclopedias, and internet sources. This paper is expository research. The successive
procedure of the study will be as follows:

1. discuss Karl Jasper’s Concept of Choice;

2. study the authentic relationship; and
3. apply the concept of choice according to Karl Jasper in building an authentic relationship.

The significance of the study is that it will give the researcher a standard of choice
according to the interpretation of his own experiences. The learning, realization, and conclusion
drawn from this paper will be a guiding principle for the researcher’s day-to-day living in
1
Phenomenological Study on the Pastoral Formation in San Lorenzo Ruiz Seminary. Sem. Reymund M.
Magada. 2011. p. 46
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apostolates and as a seminarian. The knowledge learned from the study can be of help to
seminarians for it would help them to immerse themselves more in the community while in the
parish apostolates and even inside the seminary.

The limitation of the study is that the researcher will focus only on Karl Jaspers’ view of
Choice and the corresponding philosophical concept related to the object of the study such as the
philosopher’s view of the self, Existenz, and freedom. The researcher will only make use of and
will evolve only to his personal experience himself. The experience noted in this study is the
personal-subjectively interpreted experience of the researcher alone. The researcher will mention
specified parish experiences limited only to his experiences with the Parish Priest, Choir
ministry, Parish Secretary, Altar servers, and Common lay people.
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Conceptual Framework

Karl Jasper’s Concept of Choice as Principle

in Building Authentic Relationship

Karl Jasper’s Concept of Choice

Authentic Relationship

Choice as a Principle in Building

Authentic Relationship

Conclusion

Figure 1. A conceptual framework presents the flow of his research paper. The diagram
shown how Karl Jasper’s concept of Choice became a principle of authentic relationship.