HARNESSING OUR RESOURCES FOR THE FORMATION OF SEMINARIANS TO THE PRIESTHOOD IN THE POST-MODERN AGE
Formation is a divine assignment and those involved in it must be conscious of the gravity of its demands. No one forms another whosale and no one forms himself all alone. Education is a systematic effort between a superior and an inferior, between a mentor and a mentored. Education environment is an academy of individuals with at least a vision. It is a mission to give birth to another through the process of intellectual midwifery to use the words of Plato. Its content is a heritage based on set values that humanise and imbued the individual with the character adequate and noble for a set goal. It is harnessing available resources to realise a personality immersed in a world that is experiencing exponential growth in technology, but with less capacity of an authentic integration of the true and needed values. The human person is entangled in the drive to know and improve the self, even unconsciously so as to be able to rule one’s life and possibly dominate others. But since culture regulates this drive and direct human affairs; information becomes both a possession and a heritage. It is about character building and a journey of an entire life of a person in society in diverse engagements. This project seeks to draw attention to the fact that the present circumstance requires a re-evaluation of the system of formation; not just in the seminary but a far-reaching endeavour in the light of a world that is redefining anthropology. It calls for a more rigorous incarnation of the ever-relevant resources of the church and especially the recent document on the formation of candidates to the catholic priesthood.
Keywords: