The final theme in the three section presentation on the priesthood is the Regional Seminary. I have reviewed some of the criteria of the Church for ordination in the context of my homily for the diaconal ordination (Catholic News, May 27th edition).

In the column for the following week I offered an overview of vocation recruitment system for the priesthood that is operative in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain (Catholic News, June 3rd edition).

Now I want to provide some basic information to the readers of my column about the governance and the various parts of the Regional Seminary Programme. 

Governance of the Seminary

The Regional Seminary is a responsibility of the Antilles Episcopal Conference.  It is governed by a Seminary Board which meets twice each year. The Board reports to the entire Bishops’ Conference at the Annual General Meeting of the Bishops’ Conference.

The Seminary, along with the Bishops’ Conference itself, operates under the jurisdiction of the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome.

I offer that information because some people think that because the Seminary is in Trinidad and because many of the faculty members and administration are from the Archdiocese, it is governed by the Archdiocese of Port of Spain. It is not! 

The governance of the Regional Seminary by Rome is not just theoretic. For example, during the tenure of the former Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, an order was received from Rome that the Regional Seminary should participate in what all seminaries around the world were participating in at the time, namely, a Roman Visitation i.e. a Visitation of the Seminary by Bishops and Priests from outside the region who operated in the name of the Roman Congregation.

The Visitation took place last year from October 16 through October 19th. The Report on the Visitation was given to the Bishops on April 26, 2007.

The Seminary Programme        

The Programme of the Regional Seminary follows the four components that are required by the Holy See for all Seminary Programmes. These components are specified in detail in the teaching of Pope John Paul II on priestly formation. 

They can be found in his Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Pastores Dabo Vobis which was issued on March 25, 1992. The four components of priestly formation programme are: 1)Human Formation; 2) Spiritual Formation; 3)Academic Formation; and 4)Pastoral Formation.

Human formation

Human formation in the context of priestly formation is different from secular education or job training. Human formation in this specialized context is related to the grace of God and the presence of the Christian community.

Ultimately, the model for human formation is Jesus Christ who possessed complete freedom to give himself to the ministry of salvation for the world. The more free priests are, the more generously can they serve.  

The basic principle of human formation is that the personality of a priest is to be a bridge not an obstacle for people in meeting Jesus Christ. As such, human formation is what Pope John Paul II called the ‘necessary foundation’ for all priestly formation. It fosters issues of personal freedom, emotional and psychosexual development and the relational capacity of the individual.

Spiritual formation

In Pastores Dabo Vobis, the Holy Father states, “the spiritual life is the core which unifies and gives life to a priest being a priest and acting as a priest.” To be a priest a conversion of heart is required. To live in union with Christ the High Priest, a candidate must gradually acquire the listening and learning heart of a disciple. 

The spirituality of a candidate for the priesthood involves more than a personal relationship with Jesus. It also involves ecclesial communion and is lived out practically in the context of the experience of the Church.

Some examples of the spirituality of the life of a priest that are considered essential by the Church are: prayer, a full sacramental life, spiritual direction, formation for celibacy, simplicity of life and a commitment to  ongoing spiritual formation e.g. through retreats and spiritual programmes.

Intellectual/academic formation

As an outsider looks at a seminary, it may well appear to be a school. That initial impression is strengthened because the academic programme, which specializes in philosophy and theology, takes up the most space in any seminary catalogue.

In truth, however, a seminary programme is an integrated programme. Human formation supports spiritual formation. The same can be said about academic formation as it relates to pastoral formation. Pastoral formation surfaces issues in candidates that the candidates must process in human and spiritual formation.  

The four programme elements are designed to meet the immediate and long term needs of the candidate for the priesthood. The staff responsible for human and spiritual formation, the faculty and the Pastoral Field Education staff are all aware of their responsibility to integrate the various elements of the programme. As a result, integration and growth within the framework of the four components for the priestly formation should become the lifelong goals of a priest.

Pastoral formation

The Pastoral Programme addresses the candidate’s need to learn how to communicate the mysteries of the faith through his human personality, through his personal witness of faith and through his knowledge of the faith.

Pastoral formation aids the candidate by a series of pastoral assignments which are supervised, which require self evaluation and which interpret the pastoral experience, through a process of theological reflection. Hopefully, the reflection process will become a permanent part of the priest’s life.

Conclusion

As the Bishops expected, the Regional Seminary received a positive report from the Roman Visitation. As there always are at Visitations, there are some challenges to be faced e.g. the need to work toward acquiring additional full time staff that will be resident at the Seminary and the need to upgrade the facilities at the Seminary. The Bishops will work to meet those needs.

However, the Seminary programme was evaluated as being in conformity with the requirements of the Holy See. Therefore, the Catholic Community in the Caribbean Region of the Church should be confident that the Regional Seminary is forming competent and committed priests.

Everyone should also be committed to praying for the Regional Seminary and to participating in their Dioceses in the essential ministry of encouraging priestly vocations.