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C H A P T E R  1 3  
 

 

 

The Parish Priest as a Formator: 

Bridging the Gap Between the Diocese 

and the Seminary  
 

Peter Abumhenre EGBE 

 

 

 

Preamble 

This project is in honour of Very Rev, Fr. Anselm Jimoh, PhD. A man 

of honour who has given most of his twenty-five years in the priestly 

ministry to the work of forming candidates for the priesthood. He is 

also a priest who has had the opportunity to be involved in parochial 

work. In addition, he was once a Vocations’ Director. It will not be an 

exaggeration to say that his priestly ministry has been one of bridging 

the gap between the life of the parish ministry and the seminary 

formation. It is, therefore, appropriate to salute this hero of faith in the 

catholic church and propose him to all who are in and those who desire 

to aspire to this ministry to learn from him through these materials 

presented in his honour.  

 

Introduction 

The difference between the life within the Seminary walls and the 

parish setting can be taken for granted and has in fact in many cases 

been taken for granted. But the reality of the gap between the two is 

more existential than imagined. Many seminarians and even priests 

believe that there is no relationship between the life of the seminary 

and parish ministry. It is not novel to hear seminarians openly 



196   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

criticizing the regiment of the seminary formation system and the 

seemingly unpredictable nature of practical life in parish ministry. It is 

the opinion of this article that there is a problem in this position that 

holds or argues that it is natural to view life in the seminary and life in 

the parish as distinct places for pastoral engagement. If the life in the 

seminary is like a nurturing ground to live the life in the parish, there 

should be a connection of semblance between the ‘two institutions.’  
The problem that one might observe to be responsible for the 

seeming lacuna between life in the seminary and practical ministry for 

instance in the parish is the lack of integration. This lack of integration 

is not just only the difficulty in synchronizing the two separate realities 

of the seminary system and the parish setting, but also often due to the 

fact that many seminarians do not allow the life of the seminary exact 

the right impact on them while in formation. Many see the seminary 

training in most part as theoretical and sometimes cumbersome, as 

compared to the practical and day-to-day simple parish life. One of the 

major issues that could be raised is sometimes the sacrifice inherent in 

the seminary formation and the enormous freedom and independence 

of life in the parish. But there is something missing in the whole system. 

Fulton Sheen once opined that – 

We who have received the Sacrament of Orders call 

ourselves “priest”. The author does not recall any priest 
ever having said, “I was ordained a ‘victim’’, nor did 
he ever say, ‘I am studying to be a victim.’ That seemed 
almost alien to being a priest. The seminary always told 

us to be ‘good’ priests; never were we told to be a 

willing victim. And yet was not Christ, the priest, a 

victim? Did He not come to die? He did not offer a 

lamb, a bullock or doves; He never offered anything 

except himself (see Eph.5:2)1 

 

Here we can already understand that the risk of not integrating the life 

of the seminary and that of the parish potent a great problem for the 

Church and it is time to address it. 

Today, between the seminary and practical parish ministry, for 

instance, is the belief that – while the seminary is ‘a place of torment 
and suffering’, the ministry in general including the parish is ‘a place 
of arrival’. One can make a link between this conception and the civil 
educational system in our country. One is educated so that he can earn 



The Parish Priest as a Formator: Bridging the Gap…     197 
 

 

 

a living for himself. The seminarian or the candidate for ordination has 

earned his qualification, so he can think more of how to take care of 

himself and even make personal investments side-by-side the 

assignment by the bishop and the two are different. Here no one feels 

there is a problem; at least by what is obtainable in our time, even 

authorities seem to be complacent or at best helpless about this 

monstrous cancer of pastoral decay. What can be done to address this 

among many problems? There are places where people can now go to 

school and after training, they seek ‘job’ in the priesthood. In the name 

of doing that personal interest in ministries or programmes are often 

more important than ‘official’ church assignment. What will be your 

interpretation of this scenario? There is a need for a true auto-reflection 

as we get more and more challenged by the realities of our present 

world order. The true priesthood continues to be a sacrificial offering 

to God for the transformation of the world.2 

In the tradition of the Catholic Church, “… all the faithful are 

made a holy and kingly priesthood, they offer spiritual sacrifices to God 

through Jesus Christ, and they proclaim the mighty acts of him who has 

called them out of darkness into his admirable light…”3 However, 

some are uniquely called and consecrated through the Sacrament of 

Holy Order to particularly share in the ministerial duties of Christ 

through the instrumentality of the Church.4 It is the preparation for this 

particular function of the ordained faithful that is the duty of this paper. 

It will consider this function and its relevance by way of introduction 

and look at preparation for such an office of service to God and 

humanity. The paper will focus on the role of the parish priest as an 

agent of formation. It is important to state from the onset that vocation 

to the sacred ministerial priesthood is not a human initiative, but divine 

election and entrusted to the Church by Jesus Christ through the power 

of the Holy Spirit.5 Nevertheless, he is like the rest of humanity in 

everything. “Priests, while being chosen from the midst of humanity 

and appointed to act on its behalf in what pertains to God, to offer gifts 

and sacrifices for sins (see Heb 5:1), live with the rest of humanity as 

with brothers and sisters.”6 

Not even angels can one claim to be capable of fulfilling the 

function(s) of the priest. It is in fact far removed from the ordinary 

duties of the human agent. It is the work of God established on earth to 



198   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

mediate between the Divine and mortals. In his reflection about the 

importance of the work of the priest, Alphonsus de Liguori states thus: 

“The dignity of the priest is estimated from the exalted nature of his 
offices. Priests are chosen by God to manage on earth all his concerns 

and interests.”7 Therefore, to talk about priestly formation and ministry 

means to talk about such duty that is completely outside the human 

agent, society and function, but for all of them. “The priests of the New 
Testament are, it is true, by their vocation and ordination, set apart in 

some way within the people of God, but this is not in order that they 

should be separated from that people or from any person, but that they 

should be completely consecrated to the task for which God chooses 

them….”8 

Nevertheless, the ministry of the priest is a service to humanity. 

It is the work of God among human beings in the sanctification of the 

earthly kingdom (the world). Divine as this task is, the human agent is 

still relevant in the dispensing of the work of the mysteries of God at 

the human and on a daily basis. These demands require candidates to 

be properly formed before they are ordained priests. The parish priest 

has a serious role to play here. To the extent that God himself became 

man, man has become very important in the economy of salvation. The 

role of a man here requires rigorous education and such education can 

only be well grounded if it is rooted in the family the cradle of life and 

nucleus of society. 

The parish priest is just one among many other agents entrusted 

with discerning and helping candidates for the priesthood. Let us 

examine some of the agents of vocation to the priesthood and their 

respective roles in the formation period. The first place the human 

person encounters formation is in the context of the family. The family 

here in its purest form will include a couple (male and female), their 

children eventually. This paper does not nurse any bias against persons 

or agencies who have their own understanding about the concept of the 

family, but at the same time, the author is of the opinion that the 

reference to the family is as defined above. 

 

1. The Family 

The family is the domestic church and the seed-bed of vocation to the 

priesthood. It is impossible to have a healthy church and suitable 

candidates for the priesthood without a ‘worthy’ family. The priest is 
at the centre of this experience in the life of the parish community. “A 



The Parish Priest as a Formator: Bridging the Gap…     199 
 

 

 

good laity is scarcely possible without truly holy priests. … – just as it 

is impossible to have a blossoming of vocations without Christian 

families which are the domestic churches9. The obligation of education 

of children is crucial to priestly formation and rests squarely on the 

family. Education begins in the family. Consequently, formation 

begins with the family. It is incumbent on every family to bring up 

children in positive values that form the basis of a good and virtuous 

life of the human person. “Since it is the parents who have given life to 

their children, on them lies the greatest obligation of educating their 

family. … The role of parents in education is of such importance that 

it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute.”10  Since the 

family is also a product of society, it required that the social order rises 

to its responsibility of providing the enabling atmosphere for the right 

form of education to its citizens. 

The task of imparting education belongs primarily to 

the family, but it requires the help of society as a whole. 

As well as the rights of parents, and those others to 

whom the parents entrust some share in their duty to 

educate, there are certain duties and rights vested in 

civil society inasmuch as it is its function to provide for 

the common good in temporal matters.11 

 

The function of the priest is the work of the salvation of souls and in 

fact the salvation of the world at large. It is the mission of Christ 

through the working of the Holy Spirit to win back creation to God who 

has made all things good and beautiful. It is a function of the 

redemption of the world. In the Gospel of St. John, God declared the 

reason why he sent his son into the world; this was love (cf. Jn.3:16). 

Just so that the world might be saved, God sent his Son born of a 

woman (cf. Gal.4:4). It is this work of love that the priest is meant to 

perpetuate until the Kingdom of God is consummated on earth. “And 
all these activities, since they flow from the paschal mystery of Christ, 

will find their consummation in the glorious coming of the same Lord, 

when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God his Father.…”12 

From the foregoing, the presence and role of the priest are 

crucial in the affairs of the world. It is flowing from here that anything 

that has to do with preparation for this august role must be nothing 



200   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

below the best of human effort. The formation of a priest in the Catholic 

tradition occupies a very high echelon in the priority list of the church’s 
activities.  

“The formation of future priests, both diocesan and 

religious, and lifelong assiduous care for their personal 

sanctification in the ministry and for the constant 

updating of their pastoral commitment is considered by 

the Church one of the most demanding and important 

tasks for the future of the evangelization of humanity 

The Church's work of formation is a continuation in 

time of Christ's own work.”13 
 

To address such a theme as we have is certainly a task long overdue. 

The role of the parish priest is critical in the formation of individuals 

for the priesthood. It is in the same vein, that one needs to consider the 

parish as an entity is an institution. 

 

2. The Parish 

The parish is a community of people under the care of at least a pastor. 

In the law of the Church, the parish is not just a spiritual community, it 

is also a legal institution. “A parish is a certain community of the 

Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose 

pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor 

(pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop.”14 Such a 

community usually has its own territory. “As a general rule a parish is 

to be territorial, that is, one which includes all the Christian faithful of 

a certain territory”15. It also requires a pastor or a priest to administer 

such portion of the Christian faithful. It is the obligation of those who 

are responsible to make sure that it is only suitable priests that are given 

the task of the parish priest who is the pastor of the souls of the people 

within his territory. It is the function of the diocesan bishop to appoint 

a priest to pastor the souls of the people within the parish territory. This 

is very important because of the grave role the parish plays in the 

nurturing of vocation to the priesthood. Optatam Totius expresses this 

important point in a categorical manner. 

The duty of fostering vocations pertains to the whole 

Christian community, which should exercise it above 

all by a fully Christian life. The principal contributors 

to this are the families which, animated by the spirit of 



The Parish Priest as a Formator: Bridging the Gap…     201 
 

 

 

faith and love and by the sense of duty, become a kind 

of initial seminary, and the parishes in whose rich life 

the young people take part.16 
 

It is important, therefore, to pay particular attention to the good of the 

family and the parish respectively to guarantee that the vocations that 

emanate from these institutions truly represent the ideal of the demands 

of the Gospel. 

 

3. The Role of the Parish Priest in the formation of candidates to 

the priesthood 

The life of the parish is built around the priest. “It is therefore of 
fundamental importance for the parish to have a priest as its pastor and 

the title of pastor is specifically reserved to the priest.”17 The parish 

priest very often acts as a bridge between the diocese and the seminary 

in the process of discernment of a vocation to the priesthood. The 

evaluation of the parish priest as it relates to the pastoral activities of 

the seminarians do have great importance on the process of the 

discernment of the candidates to the priesthood. The function of the 

parish priest is to act as a bridge between the somewhat activism in the 

parish and the seminary.  The position of this paper about this is that 

the relevance of the parish priest is before, during and after the 

seminary formation of the candidate to the priesthood. He prepares the 

candidate to choose the vocation to the priesthood. He guides him by 

mentoring through his training with practical experiences. He tutors 

him to take on pastoral assignment while in the seminary and as a 

young priest. He continues to provide him with practical life 

experiences as he even prepares to assume the role of the pastor 

himself. In the process of monitoring the seminarian, the parish priest 

should be careful to ensure that the seminarian does not become 

hesitant. 

Having laid a background of relevance; the next thing is to 

address the practical importance of the role of the parish priest as a 

bridge between the Parish and the Seminary in the formation of 

candidates to the priesthood. Without any doubt, the role of the parish 

priest cuts across all that the seminary does. In fact, it can be argued 

that the parish provides a platform first of all for the harvesting of 



202   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

candidates for formation in the seminary. Secondly, the parish provides 

the opportunity of practicum to the seminarian while he is still in 

training for the priesthood. Finally, he ends up most of the time in the 

parish or any other institution primarily as a pastor of souls. Hence, the 

parish is critical for the concrete realization in practice of all the 

theoretical principles and guidelines which the seminarian would have 

learnt in the process of his wholistic formation. “Formation involves an 
educational process that is both gradual and progressive, one that is not 

carried out ‘in fragments’ or in isolated segments.”18 These include 

human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation. “Inasmuch as it is 

an educating community, the seminary and its entire life - in all its 

different expressions - is committed to the formation, the human, the 

spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation of future priests.”19Care 

should, however, be taken not to divorce training in the seminary from 

practical discipleship which pastoral experience provides and this is 

most auspicious in the parish setting. 

It is the duty of a parish priest who is also called a pastor to take 

care of the parish community. Such a task, however, demands a lot of 

care and practical commitment. It is important, therefore, to make sure 

that whoever takes this role understands and faithfully carries out his 

duty according to the required decorum by learning and morals. 

The pastor (parochus) is the proper pastor (pastor) of 

the parish entrusted to him, exercising the pastoral care 

of the community committed to him under the authority 

of the diocesan bishop in whose ministry of Christ he 

has been called to share, so that for that same 

community he carries out the functions of teaching, 

sanctifying, and governing, also with the co-operation 

of other presbyters or deacons and with the assistance 

of lay members of the Christian faithful, according to 

the norm of law.20 

 

As a result of the gravity of the matter stated in the reference above, 

apart from the fact that he has to be an ordained21 minister a pastor “is 
to be outstanding in sound doctrine and integrity of morals and 

endowed with zeal for souls and other virtues; he is also to possess 

those qualities which are required by universal or particular law to care 

for the parish in question.…”22 



The Parish Priest as a Formator: Bridging the Gap…     203 
 

 

 

This is because of the gravity of the work of the priest; the 

pastor ought to be exemplary in the requisite virtues of the priesthood 

so as to be able to positively influence young parishioners and attract 

them to the Seminary for training as priests. Consequently, local 

ordinaries are to make sure those who are responsible for the souls of 

the faithful are carefully selected for such assignment to guaranty the 

welfare of the formation of the parish from where candidates are 

selected for training to be priests. “Consequently, it is recommended 

that the Pastor (parochus), or whichever person is responsible for the 

pastoral setting that receives the seminarian, should be aware of the 

formative task entrusted to him and should accompany him in his 

gradual entry into pastoral ministry.”23 This citation according to the 

ratio makes specific reference to the diaconal period, but our setting 

already engages in this task even before the diaconate ordination. It is, 

therefore, the function of the priest to discern, recommend and get 

involved in the formation of the candidate to the priesthood. 

 

4. The Seminarian 
The Seminarian is usually a male member of the faithful (who ought to 

be baptized and confirmed), who feels called and presents himself or is 

presented for training as a priest to be a priest. It is important to indicate 

some are presented and by parents or guardians. In the case of minors, 

as they are not matured to make such a decision, they depend on others 

to be presented. This applies in the case of minors who wish or are 

made to begin early in life their journey in the training to the priesthood 

in the minor seminary. This underscores the role of the pastor in the 

whole process of discerning vocation and eventual training for the 

priesthood that can occur at any time in life. “This vocation arises in 
various circumstances and at different stages of human life: in 

adolescence, in adulthood, and, as the constant experience of the church 

never fails to show, also in childhood.”24 In the process of formation, 

the seminarian is a ‘mystery to himself’25. “Seminarians need to be 
accompanied in a personal way in the various stages of their journey 

by those entrusted with the work of formation, each according to his 

proper role and competence. The purpose of accompaniment is to carry 

out vocational discernment and form the missionary disciple.”26 



204   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

Accompaniment helps to make the journey of formation to be a shared 

responsibility. 

Furthermore, one needs to point out more about the personal 

responsibility of the seminarian himself. Receiving or perceiving the 

call of God to ministry, the seminarian has a responsibility to present 

himself free and sincere to the church for formation. It is the mind of 

the church that those to be trained as priests take responsibility for their 

choice and thus submit themselves for formation.  

Each seminarian is the protagonist of his own 

formation...and is called to a journey of ongoing growth 

in the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral areas, 

taking into account of his own personal and family 

background. Seminarians are likewise responsible for 

establishing and maintaining a climate of formation 

that is consistent with the values of the Gospels27 

 

It will be impossible to have a fruitful training process without the free 

self-giving of the seminarian to the formation in response to God who 

calls. 

The history of every priestly vocation, as indeed of 

every Christian vocation, is the history of an 

inexpressible dialogue between God and human 

beings, between the love of God who calls and the 

freedom of individuals who respond lovingly to him. 

These two indivisible aspects of vocation, God's 

gratuitous gift and the responsible freedom of human 

beings, are reflected in a splendid and very effective 

way in the brief words with which the evangelist Mark 

presents the calling of the Twelve: Jesus "went up into 

the hills, and called to him those whom he desired, and 

they came to him" (Mk. 3:13). On the one hand, we 

have the completely free decision of Jesus; on the other, 

the "coming" of the Twelve, their "following" Jesus.28 
 

Freedom makes the work of formation easy both on the part of the 

seminarian and on the part of the formators. But of more importance 

here is the freedom of the one to be formed. The success of formation 

depends on the openness of the formed and his willingness to follow 

the master. “Freedom, therefore, is essential to vocation - freedom 



The Parish Priest as a Formator: Bridging the Gap…     205 
 

 

 

which, when it gives a positive response, appears as a deep personal 

adherence, as a loving gift - or rather as a gift given back to the giver 

who is God who calls, an oblation…”29 

Very often the problems that arise can be numerous: in 

common experience, we have candidates who seem to respond and 

present themselves for formation who do not really wholeheartedly 

submit to the formation. Some also come into the seminary with a 

disposition that makes it impossible for the process of the formation to 

be authentic and fruitful. Cases abound in parishes and dioceses where 

seminarians who were highly esteemed in the seminary for discipline 

and maturity turn to have pretended all through their formation process 

only to reveal their true colours after ordination. Some seminarians are 

also caught in the web of the confusion between the principles of their 

life in the seminary and the remarkable difference the come to 

experience in the parish setting. What could be done to bridge the gap 

between the authentic life that the call of the gospel demands on the 

individual and the reality of the personal experience and his 

environmental influences? The answer is a structural one. All 

stakeholders are to be diligent in the discharge of their duties from the 

family to the parish priest and the individual seminarian who should be 

honest in the search for God and the direction of such a hunger for God 

in the right direction. 

But since it is necessary for the students to learn the art 

of exercising the apostolate not only theoretically but 

also practically, and to be able to act both on their own 

responsibility and in harmonious conjunction with 

others, they should be initiated into pastoral work, both 

during their course of studies and also during the time 

of vacations, by opportune practical projects.30 
 

If there is a true and sincere commitment on the part of the seminarian 

and the formators, the gap between the seminary experience and the 

reality in the parish will reduce if not completely eliminated. What is 

the seminary?  

 

 

 



206   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

5. The Seminary 

The word “seminary” is from the Latin word Seminarium, which means 

plots where plants are raised from seeds. It means breeding ground, 

nursery. When is used for in reference to the priesthood, it means a 

breeding ground for priests. The history of training for service in the 

house of God dates back to the Old Testament experience when God 

called different people to serve in his house. Aaron, Samuel, prophets, 

and the disciples in the early formation of the church. It serves the use 

of this project to make the above reference to some of the ways in which 

candidates were formed for service at the altar of God. As we have it 

today, the role of the seminary is more systematic and theoretical. 

 

6. The Moment of Transition 
Once a seminarian has completed his formation in the seminary, he 

returns to his diocese. Most dioceses do have policies that require 

pastoral formation while formation in the seminary is going on. 

Seminarians that are assigned to parochial ministries, that is, pastoral 

work, function under the supervision of the parish priest. He determines 

the nature of the work of the seminarian, and ensure that the theoretical 

intellectual formation is brought to bear in the pastoral field. The Post 

Synodal Exhortation on Priestly formation reads: 

And so pastoral formation certainly cannot be reduced 

to a mere apprenticeship, aiming to make the candidate 

familiar with some pastoral techniques. The seminary 

which educates must seek really and truly to initiate the 

candidate into the sensitivity of being a shepherd, in the 

conscious and mature assumption of his 

responsibilities, in the interior habit of evaluating 

problems and establishing priorities and looking for 

solutions on the basis of honest motivations of faith and 

according to the theological demands inherent in 

pastoral work. Thanks to an initial and gradual 

experience of ministry, future priests will be able to be 

inserted into the living pastoral tradition of their 

particular church. They will learn to open the horizon 

of their mind and heart to the missionary dimension of 

the Church's life. They will get practice in some initial 

forms of co-operation with one another and with the 

priests alongside whom they will be sent to work. 



The Parish Priest as a Formator: Bridging the Gap…     207 
 

 

 

These priests have a considerably important role, in 

union with the seminary programme, in showing the 

candidates how they should go about pastoral work.31 
 

One can say that this is the point where the work of the parish 

priest and that of the seminary meet. It continues from here and 

strongly demands that the parish becomes a priority of place 

when it comes to getting really involved in the work of service 

as priests and consequently priests to be. 

When it comes to choosing places and services in 

which candidates can obtain their pastoral experience, 

the parish should be given particular importance … for 
it is a living cell of local and specialized pastoral work 

in which they will find themselves faced with the kind 

of problems they will meet in their future 

ministry….These and other pastoral activities will 
teach the future priest to live out as a "service" his own 

mission of "authority" in the community, setting aside 

all attitudes of superiority or of exercising a power if it 

is not simply that which is justified by a pastoral 

charity.32 

 

7. The Dimensions of the Work of the Parish Priests as a Bridge 

between the Seminary and Parish. 

It is clear from the analysis above that the most important role of the 

parish priest is providing the seminarian with an opportunity to 

experience first-hand a practical application of the various aspects of 

theoretical formation he received from the seminary – The human, 

spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation. The proper integration of 

these aspects of formation both by the individual who aspires to 

ministry and the system that receives and trains him become the 

hallmark of a fruitful ministry. 

 

7.1 Human 

The priest is expected to have the natural human virtues that should 

dispose of him to function properly as a pastor. Human virtues such as 

honesty, dedication, fear of God, love of human being, etc. It is the 



208   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

view of the new Ratio and other church documents that the basis and 

purpose of formation is priestly identity.33 Priestly identity is being 

another Christ.  

The priest, who is called to be a "living image" of Jesus 

Christ, head and shepherd of the Church, should seek 

to reflect in himself, as far as possible, the human 

perfection which shines forth in the incarnate Son of 

God and which is reflected with particular liveliness in 

his attitudes toward others as we see narrated in the 

Gospels.34 
 

In addition to this – “Future priests should, therefore, cultivate a series 

of human qualities, not only out of proper and due growth and 

realization of self but also with a view to the ministry. These qualities 

are needed for them to be balanced people, strong and free, capable of 

bearing the weight of pastoral responsibilities.”35This is what the priest 

is called to be. It is expected that the parish priest having lived such an 

experience as pastor will be in the best position to guide the seminarian 

to begin to mirror his life to it through an apprenticeship in the parish 

with the pastor. All of this will come to its proper expectation if the one 

who is aspiring is rightly motivated and truly available to be guided in 

the way of Christ. In order for the human formation to complete and 

become available for the task of leading others, there is a need for 

spiritual formation. 

 

7.2 Spiritual 
In the words of Thomas Aquinas, “Since therefore grace does not 
destroy but perfects it, natural reason should minister to faith as the 

bent of will minsters to charity.”36 It is in this richness of expectation 

that the life of the church minister to her members. Every Christian is 

called to holiness37. But there is a peculiarity in priestly spirituality.  

The spiritual training should be closely connected with 

the doctrinal and pastoral, and, with the special help of 

the spiritual director, should be imparted in such a way 

that the students might learn to live in an intimate and 

unceasing union with the Father through His Son Jesus 

Christ in the Holy Spirit. Conformed to Christ the Priest 

through their sacred ordination they should be 

accustomed to adhere to Him as friends, in an intimate 



The Parish Priest as a Formator: Bridging the Gap…     209 
 

 

 

companionship, their whole life through. They should 

so live His paschal mystery themselves that they can 

initiate into it the flock committed to them.38 
 

The parish and the parish priest provide the seminarian with the 

required atmosphere and living example to carrying out his spiritual 

exercises. Having been taught in the seminary the practice of 

meditation and Lectio Divina as a routine, the parish now presents the 

seminarian the opportunity to live out the spirituality developed in the 

formation ground. It is through the interaction of the seminarian with 

the parish priest and generally with the parish life that will make the 

expected accompaniment possible.39 He sees the challenges in the 

ministry and learns to channel his energy to the required disposition of 

pastoral integration of the spiritual principles he has acquired in the 

seminary. With the intellectual and practical applications that he lives 

in the seminary, the seminarian begins to realize in a concrete way the 

various aspects of the spirituality of the life of the priest. He also begins 

to recognize his own personal strengths and weakness so as to be able 

to equip himself to develop a personal relationship with Christ through 

an authentic practical spiritual life. This can have a tremendous effect 

on the seminarian while in training to constantly and in a profound 

manner improve on his own response to the formation. Pastores Dabo 

Vobis points this out: 

It introduces him to deep communion with Jesus Christ, 

the good shepherd, and leads to the total submission of 

one's life to the Spirit, in a filial attitude toward the 

Father and a trustful attachment to the Church. Spiritual 

formation has its roots in the experience of the cross, 

which in deep communion leads to the totality of the 

paschal mystery.40 
 

7.3  Pastoral 

Pastoral dimension speaks to the willingness of the seminarian to take 

up assignments such as the teaching of catechism, preparation for the 

liturgical celebration, solicitude for the poor and organization of lay 

apostolate groups in such a way for them to function properly. Here the 

parish priest is to work assiduously to channel the energy of the 



210   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

seminarian to the vast pastoral need of the parish while guiding against 

excesses. Just as it is the duty of the parish priest to take care of the 

pastoral need of the parish he presides over, it is his duty to gradually 

introduce the seminarian to the dynamics of this task.  

The pastor is obliged to see to it that the word of God 

in its entirety is announced to those living in the parish; 

for this reason, he is to see to it that the lay Christian 

faithful are instructed in the truths of the faith, 

especially through the homily which is to be given on 

Sundays and holy days of obligation and through the 

catechetical formation which he is to give; he is to 

foster works by which the spirit of the gospel is 

promoted, including issues involving social justice, is 

promoted; he is to take special care for the Catholic 

education of children and of young adults; he is to make 

every effort with the aid of the Christian faithful, to 

bring the gospel message also to those who have ceased 

practising their religion or who do not profess the true 

faith.41 
 

In the first paragraph of the can. 528 above, one can claim that a lot of 

the pastoral work in which the seminarian is to be involved under the 

supervision of the parish priest is expressed. Practical activities to this 

effect could be the teaching of catechism to the parishioners of different 

ages and professions. The seminarian can also be given charge of lay 

apostolate groups in the parish and in fact, the seminarian is a-priest-

in-making and should be very intimate with the pastoral life of the 

priest.42 

The seminarian is one who is training to mirror the life of Christ 

in his own life and conducts among the people of God. So, he must be 

made to take a serious part in liturgical celebrations. He is not only to 

participate actively but must also help other parishioners to understand 

the importance of liturgical celebrations. Principal among these 

mysteries of the Liturgy is the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass. “The pastor 
is to see to it that the Most Holy Eucharist is the centre of the parish 

assembly of the faithful.”43 The earlier those training for the priesthood 

understand and appreciate the role of the liturgy in their training and 

eventual ministry as priests the better for the Church and for the 

proclamation of the gospel message. 



The Parish Priest as a Formator: Bridging the Gap…     211 
 

 

 

Another important aspect of the priest’s role in the guidance of 
the practical application of the seminarian’s knowledge in the pastoral 
fields is the ability to visit the parishioners. This is an important part of 

the formation. Sometimes priests are not aware of the material situation 

of parishioners. The ability to visit parishioners can help the seminarian 

to appreciate them and their faith-journey. This is within the 

requirement of the priest to know his parishioners and introducing the 

seminarian to this pastoral obligation becomes an opportunity 

integration of theory into the practical existential situation.44 

 

8. Remarks 

The topic that has been addressed here is one that has a lot of practical 

undertones and it is pertinent to give some remarks. Formation for the 

priesthood has been prime in the church’s evangelical mission. The 
agents of evangelization must be properly formed to respond to the 

needs of the human race in all ages. It is also true in our time that the 

world has known a lot of progress and experienced fragmentations. The 

church has not been exempted from the present human condition. In 

Nigeria, the effects of globalization also impact on the life of people. 

The church has tried over time to respond adequately to the imbalances 

in the world and address their implications on faith expression.45 The 

most recent of such an effort as it concerns the formation for the 

priesthood is the New Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionalis. One of the 

admirable points raised in the document is the capacity of Local 

Churches to fashion out their particular programmes based on their own 

experiences.  

It is the opinion of this paper that the Nigerian church needs to 

use the opportunity of this document to re-evaluate the priestly training 

process in the country and create more practical synergy between the 

seminaries and other institutions like the parish through the dioceses. 

Priests need to be more involved in the work of formation, helping 

candidates through practical means to integrate their formation in the 

seminary in the existential life of the parish. The practice of keeping 

seminarians far away from the priest should be discouraged as there is 

the most auspicious opportunity that the seminarian has to see closely 

the realities of the priestly ministry even before ordination. 

 



212   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

9. Conclusion 

The danger every priest must avoid is the temptation to view the value 

taught in the seminary as mere transitory in the life of a person. The 

values are to become intimate habits in the life of the candidate for the 

priesthood. These habits create the ground upon which the grace of the 

sacrament of the Holy Orders will build upon. The principle of St. 

Thomas Aquinas is very helpful in underscoring the fact that it is the 

mode of the seminarians that the grace builds on: Quidquid recipitur 

ad modum recipientis recipitur. Whatever is received into something is 

received according to the condition of the receiver.”46 

The role of the parish priest in the formation of candidates for 

the priesthood is to help the seminarian gradually integrate and 

appropriate the principles he has learnt in the seminary. Therefore, the 

seminarian should be very close to the priest in the parish when on 

official and even unofficial pastoral experience. The motivation of the 

parish priest to do this work should come from his love for the church. 

Failure to ensure that the taught doctrine and spiritual exercises in the 

seminary are lived out in the parish can cause a crisis of vocation and 

identity in the individual to be ordained a priest. Unfortunately, in many 

instances that is what obtains today. But the onus is on the parish and 

the seminary as great institutions of interdependence opportunity to 

help individuals aspiring to the priesthood to take their vocation 

seriously. 
 
 

 

Endnotes 

1 Fulton Sheen, The Priest Is Not His Own; Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2005. 

10 
2 Second Vatican Council, Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 

1965. 
3Presbyterorum Ordinis no. 2. 
4 Cf. ibid 
5 Cf. Heb. 5:4; Ex. 28:1; Jn. 15:16. 
6 Ibid. nos. 3. & 7 
7 Alphonsus De Liguori, Dignity and Duties of the Priest, Redemptorist Fathers, 

Brooklyn, N. Y., 1927. 24. 
8Presbyterorum Ordinis no. 3 
9 Congregation for the Clergy, The Priest, Pastor and Leader of the Parish 

Community, Libreria Editrice Vaticana Vatican City, 2002. No. 27. 
10 Vat. II., Gravissimum Educationis, 28th Oct. 1965. No. 3. 
11 ibid 

                                                           



The Parish Priest as a Formator: Bridging the Gap…     213 
 

 

 

                                                                                                                                  
12Presbyterorum Ordinis no. 
13Pastores Dabo Vobis; no. 2. 
14Can. 515 §1. 
15 Code of Canon Law 518. from the Vatican archive cited on the 31st of 

September, 2019. 
16 Decree on priestly training, OPTATAM TOTIUS OCTOBER 28, 1965, no. 2. 
17 Congregation for the Clergy, The Priest, Pastor and Leader of the Parish 

Community, Libreria Editrice Vaticana Vatican City, 2002. No. 2 
18 Jorge Carlos Patron Wong, The Stages of Priestly Formation, in The Gift of 

Priestly Vocation in A Symposium For Formation Teams, English-Speaking 

Seminaries of Canada, April 4-7, 2019. 
19 Pastores Dabo Vobis, no. 61. 
20 Ibid 519. 
21Can. 521 §1 
22 Ibid 521 §2.  
23 Congregation for the Clergy, The Gift of the Priestly Vocation, Ratio 

Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, L’ Osservatore Romano, Vatican City, 
2016. No. 75. 
24 Ibid no. 12 
25 Cf. Ratio 28 
26 Ratio 44. 
27 New Ratio Fungamentalis, no. 130 
28 Pastores no. 36. 
29 Ibid. 
30 Decree on priestly training, no. 20. 
31 Pastores Dabo Vobis. 58 
32 Ibid. 
33 Cf. New Ration 30 
34Pastores Dabo Vobis 43 
35 Ibid. 
36 Aquinas, Summa Theological, Part 1, Question 1, Article 8, Response to 

objection 2. 
37 Ibid no. 45 
38 Decree on priestly training, OPTATAM TOTIUS, no. 8 
39 Cf. New Ratio no. 44 
40Pastores Dabo Vobis, no. 45 
41 CCL, Can. 528 §1. 
42 Cf. Can. 530. 
43Can. 528 §2 
44Cf. 529 §1. 
45 Church in the Modern World, nos. 5, 8, 9 & 10.  
46 Cf. Summa Theologiae, 1a, q. 75, a. 5; 3a, q. 5. 


