The Education of Seminarians to a "corresponding prudence" in front of the Challenges and Dangers of the World

(Prof. Jose Vidamor Yu, Manila)

The Church keeps its responsibility of reading the signs of the times. (cf GS 4) Its desire to be renewed and to evangelize largely depends in great part in priestly ministry and in the training for priests. (OT 1) The pressing demands of the priestly ministry are due to the rapid changes transpiring in the world today. The intellectual formation of the individual candidate to the priesthood is always linked to human and spiritual formation of the seminarian.

Responsibility for Vocations

The intellectual formation of the seminarians is not left to the seminary alone but also to the whole Christian community. The care for vocations is an important task of the whole Christian community. It is the community who provides the animation for mission and vocations as well as it is the community who is the recipient of fruits of the ministry. The Bishop has the first responsibility in the work of promoting priestly vocations. (PDV 41)

The Christian family is the birthplace of vocations and the first school. It is the place where the seminarian has his first educational orientation. As the family becomes endangered by all forces against life and secularism, the Church has its duty to do pastoral work in behalf of the family. If the Christian family generously accepts the gift of human life and the grace of the priestly vocations, it becomes "as it were" the first seminary. It is in the family that the candidates to the priesthood experiences the value of prayer and love for the Church. Moreover, it is also in the family which the candidate experiences the contrasting forces against life and priestly vocations in the world today. (cf PDV 41)

Valuing Human Formation

Intellectual formation includes the maturity of the whole person. The maturity of judgment, realization of self, and the cultivation of human qualities in view of the ministry are needed in seminary formation to make candidates more equipped to face the challenges of the times. It has to be noted that the person would be responsible for the community and therefore he should possess intellectual capacity for discernment as well as he should be a "man of communion." The seminarians should practice the sense of communion building brotherly relationships amidst people trapped in situations of standardization and loneliness especially in urban centers. (PDV 43) As lovers of the truth, the seminarians have to love the scriptures, study philosophy and theology to prepare them to proclaim and defend the faith, and be a witness in a pluralistic society today.

New Evangelizers for the New Evangelization

As the Church pursues the "new evangelization," it has to prepare new evangelizers. The rapid changes transpiring in the various sectors of society should encourage seminarians to pursue programs that will foster and train them to bear the weight of the pastoral responsibilities. Man today is torn with many anxieties and questions. Pastores Dabo Vobis reminds us that seminarians "need to be educated to love the truth, to be loyal, to respect every person, to have a sense of justice, to be true to their word, to be genuinely compassionate, to be men of integrity, and especially, to be balanced in judgment and behaviour." (PDV 43)

More importantly, seminarians have to learn to live out the mystery of the Gospel. They should be a men of prayer as signs of faith; men of communion as signs of hope; and men of service as signs of love.