194 

14 

FORMATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD: 
FORMING THE FORMATORS 

 
Edwin N. OMOROGBE, Ph.D 

Parish Priest of St. Paul Catholic Church Benin City and 
Adjunct Lecturer, Department of philosophy, University of Benin, Benin City 

eddyomorogbe@yahoo.com 
 
 
Abstract 
There have rightly been so much emphasis on formation to the 
priesthood Whenever a priest performs his pastoral duties properly, the 
formators in the seminary are applauded. But when a priest fails in his 
pastoral ministry, formators in the seminary are queried for why they did 
not identify the flaw in the process of formation. Formators of candidates 
to the priesthood are very instrumental to healthiness of the faith of the 
people. How is it possible that a seminarian who was always faithful to 
the Church’s teaching in the seminary suddenly becomes a priest who is 
almost like a “soothsayer” in the name of prophecy? How is it possible 
that this priest no longer sees the needs to observe the liturgical rubrics? 
From ‘alter Christus’ to an ecclesiastical entertainer. How is it possible 
that the priest trained to form others in the faith is almost becoming an 
instrument of deformation of the faith others. This is precisely why our 
paper wants to examine the formation of those responsible for the 
formation of these candidates. If the formators must discern and help in 
the conscience formation of the candidates to the priesthood, the 
formators also must be engaged in on-going formation to keep abreast 
with the new challenges facing priests in pastoral ministry. What are 
some of the areas of on-going formation that may be helpful to formators 
to enhance their efficiency? This research will draw insights from 
magisterial documents and psychological findings on the need to form 
the formators. Failure to form the formators leads to deformation of the 
candidates for the priesthood.  
 
Keywords: Formation, Formator, Priesthood 
 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    195 

Introduction 
Every profession requires ongoing formation in order to acquire 
knowledge and expertise that will make the persons more efficient in 
their various disciplines. It is even more important in the disciplines that 
have to do with human formation. The vocation to the Sacred 
Priesthood in the Catholic Church requires lengthen years of human, 
intellectual, spiritual and pastoral formation. In all these areas of 
formation, the human formation is considered the bedrock upon which 
all other aspects of formations are to be built upon.  

The Church holds that she has the exclusive right and duty to 
form those who are designated for the sacred ministries.1 Every diocese is 
to have a Major Seminary and where it is not possible an inter-diocesan 
seminary is to be established. The establishment of inter-diocesan 
seminary requires the approval of the Episcopal Conference and the 
approval of the Holy See.2 Since the formation of priests is intrinsically 
connected to the proclamation of the Gospel of the Lord, the Church 
claims the innate right to establish program for the formation of the 
candidates for the priesthood. Each nation is expected to established its 
own program of formation but it must follow the template provided in 
the RATIO FUNDAMENTALIS of the Holy See.3 

Anyone involved in the formation of candidates to the 
priesthood must be familiar with all four areas of formation. The person 
must have the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to assist the 
students to develop the necessary virtues and to drop the unhealthy 
incompatible vices with the ministerial priesthood.4 The changes in the 
method of the proclamation of the Gospel, the introduction of revised 
rituals for the sacraments and sacramentals, the evolution of the pastoral 
needs of the people of God, and the contemporary doctrinal challenges 
are just some of the few areas that require ongoing formation for the 
formators. Formators who are not familiar with the sociological changes 
and the “new mindsets” of the people of God towards reception of the 
proclamation of the Gospel will not be very effective in the art of 
formation.  
 
Objective of the Paper 
This paper will therefore, attempt to show that it is as important to train 
the formators as much as it is important to train the candidates for the 
sacred priesthood. The possible areas of ongoing formation of formators 
will be examined. The entire presupposition of this research is anchored 
on the fact that there is no fullness of knowledge in any human creature. 
Growth in knowledge is continuous until death. The Gospel of Luke 
2.52 says Jesus grew in wisdom and stature. If Christ who is divine can 
because of his human nature be subjected to growth in wisdom, all those 



196 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

who are incorporated into Christ by baptism also have the obligation to 
seek ways to grow in wisdom and knowledge. For those who train 
candidates for the sacred priesthood, the ways to grow in wisdom and 
knowledge is through formation of the formator. Let us now briefly 
examine some possible obstacles to ongoing formation of formators. 
 
Forming the Formator 
It is important to always keep in mind that every human being requires 
ongoing formation. This ongoing formation comes in two ways. First, it 
comes through practical knowledge acquired from years of experience. 
The second way is through a formal or an organised program for the 
formator. The two should normally co-exist. The law established that all 
Christ faithful do have the obligation to ensure that the message of 
salvation is spread to every part of the world.5 The direct implication of 
this is the fact that the Church must provide the means and the 
opportunity for the message of salvation to reach the entire world. Priests 
do have important functions in the fulfilment of this obligation of Christ 
entrusted to the Church. This is the context in which we must 
understand the great importance of the process of forming those who 
provide the leadership in the field of evangelization. Those responsible 
for the formation of priests take up a very important tasks that is at the 
heart of the mission of the Church. Making provision for the ongoing 
formation of seminary formators should therefore be rightly seen as 
ecclesiastical obligation that flows from the mandate of Christ to the 
Church to go into the world and make disciples.  

In a recent Symposium on the Gift of Priestly Vocation for 
Formators in English speaking Canadian Seminaries, The Archbishop 
Secretary of Seminaries for the Congregation for Clergy underscored the 
need for formators to be engaged in ongoing formation.6 He noted that 
formation involves gradual and progressive stages as outlined in the Ratio 
Fundamentalis. This gradual and progressive formation requires formators 
to be well prepared to assist the candidates.7 In the same Symposium, 
Carlos presented a paper on how formators are to accompany and help 
seminarians discern their vocation.8 In this paper, Carlos writes: “The 
high quality formation of formators (with ongoing formation and of 
all priests, makes possible the integral formation of seminarians).  (Initial 
formation) who are in the initial stages of their journey and gives it a sure 
footing.”9 The integral formation of seminarians will depend upon the 
quality of the formators. The quality of the formators improves based 
on-going formation. Carlos explained thus: “The degree of growth 
achieved by the formator is what allows him to help the young 
seminarians in their own growth process.”10 Any seminary that has no 
program for on-going formation of the formators is doing a great 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    197 

disservice to the Church because of the quality of priests that will come 
out of the seminary.  

Two specific areas that formators must focus ongoing formation 
are accompaniment and discernment. In the area of accompaniment, the 
formator must improve on establishing a true bond with God by 
listening to his Word. The formator must also have a systematic bond 
with the one who accompanies us in God’s name.11 Engaging in 
programs that enhances the listening capacity of the formator will help to 
make the formator more efficient in his work.  
 
Priestly Formation 
There have been several magisterial documents on priestly formation.12 
Our research will only deal with a few that we consider relevant to the 
area of our study. Priestly formation in this research refers to the 
preparation of candidates for the priesthood. Although, such preparation 
requires multiple intervention from the family to the parish, to the lay 
apostolate group the person may belong to, to the diocesan program of 
formation through pastoral work or other forms of formation, our 
research will however, be primarily based upon the seminary aspects of 
formation. It will be concerned about the four areas of priestly formation 
and how specifically formators are trained to be competent to help 
candidates in these areas of formation. Therefore, in dealing with priestly 
formation our attention will not such much be on the candidates for 
formation but on forming the formators.  
 
The Second Vatican Council 
On 28 October 1965 Pope Paul VI published the Decree Optatam Totius, 
on Priestly Formation. The Decree stated that program of priestly 
training should be set up by Episcopal Conferences but always keeping 
in mind the Universal Law on priestly training.13 The Major Seminaries 
are the places where candidates to the priesthood are trained to be 
shepherds of souls after the model of Christ the Chief Shepherd. All the 
forms of the training in the seminary are to be ordered towards the 
pastoral end.14 The intellectual and spiritual training are for pastoral 
effectiveness. In order to be successful in the formation of candidates, 
seminary formators are to be obedient to their bishops.15 
Given the high primum place on the formation of candidates to the 
sacred priesthood, the Fathers of the Council stated: 

Since the training of students depends both on wise laws 
and, most of all, on qualified educators, the 
administrators and teachers of seminaries are to be 
selected from the best men, and are to be carefully 
prepared in sound doctrine, suitable pastoral experience 



198 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

and special spiritual and pedagogical training. Institutes, 
therefore, should be set up to attain this end. Or at least 
courses are to be arranged with a proper program, and 
the meetings of seminary directors are to take place at 
specified times. 

Administrators, however, and teachers must be keenly aware of how 
much the success of the students' formation depends on their manner of 
thinking and acting. Under the rector's leadership they are to form a very 
closely knit community both in spirit and in activity and they are to 
constitute among themselves and with the students that kind of family 
that will answer to the Lord's prayer "That they be one" (cf. John 17:11) 
and that will develop in the students a deep joy in their own vocation. 
The bishop, on the other hand, should, with a constant and loving 
solicitude, encourage those who labor in the seminary and prove himself 
a true father in Christ to the students themselves. Finally, all priests are 
to look on the seminary as the heart of the diocese and are to offer 
willingly their own helpful service.16 

The Fathers of the Council took ongoing formation of formators 
seriously enough to decree that Institutes for forming formators be set 
up. Such Institutes will help to keep formators abreast in the new 
pedagogical ways of discerning and accompanying a candidate towards 
the priesthood. The regular meetings of Rectors and other formators are 
to be focused on improving ways of on-going formation of the 
formators.  

The Decree makes an important point by stating the strong 
connection between the success of the priests in the ministry and the 
nature of formation received in the seminary. It will also mean that to 
some extent, the failure of the priest in the ministry can be traced to the 
nature of the formation and discernment received at the seminary. This 
further underpin the argument for ensuring proper on-going formation 
of the formators.  

Another essential element expressed by the Council Fathers is 
the community in which the seminarians are formed. Formators are to 
establish a closely-knit community in which they work in solidarity 
under the leadership of the Rector. Formators must keep in mind that 
the seminary environment is a community. One of the distinguishing 
factors of a community is a shared goal and a shared means of achieving 
it. The Rector is expected to help guide the formators to use a common 
means to achieve the common goal of forming candidates for the 
priesthood in the Church. Programs that will enhance community living 
should be provided from time to time for formators to access. This is one 
way of forming the formators to enable them provide and sustain 
conducive atmosphere for the formation of candidates for the 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    199 

priesthood. A formator who is manifestly unable to live in a closely-knit 
community should be assisted to develop the capacity to live in a 
community with shared goals. In the unfortunate situation where the 
formator is still unable to abide by community life, a pastoral solution 
that will strongly include the possibility of exiting the seminary 
formation system should be explored. 
 
Pastores Dabo Vobis on Forming the Formators 
John Paul II in this famous Apostolic Exhortation stated that without 
priests the Church will not be able to fulfil the fundamental obligation 
Christ entrusted to the Church, which is to go out and preach the 
Gospel to the entire world:  

Without priests the Church would not be able to live that 
fundamental obedience which is at the very heart of her 
existence and her mission in history, an obedience in 
response to the command of Christ: "Go therefore and 
make disciples of all nations" (Mt. 28:19) and "Do this in 
remembrance of me" (Lk. 22:19; cf. 1 Cor. 11.24), i.e, an 
obedience to the command to announce the Gospel and 
to renew daily the sacrifice of the giving of his body and 
the shedding of his blood for the life of the world.17 

The Church must therefore place great importance on those who form 
candidates to the priesthood because they are participating in the core of 
the mission of the Church. The formation of the formators is therefore 
part of the essential mandate of Christ to the Church. PDV describes the 
work of the formators as follows: 

The Church's work of formation is a continuation in 
time of Christ's own work, which the evangelist Mark 
illustrates in these words: "And he went up on the 
mountain, and called to him those whom he desired; and 
they came to him. And he appointed twelve, to be with 
him, and to be sent out to preach and have authority to 
cast out demons" (Mk. 3:13-15).18 

The seminary community constitutes a sort of mountain place. It is a 
place of prayer and discernment. The process of identifying those who 
are suitable for the priestly ministry is one that should be done with all 
the seriousness it deserves. The formators in the seminary must have the 
necessary knowledge and skills to assist in the four areas of formation 
mentioned in PDV. The Document stated that the entire work of 
priestly formation rests on a solid human formation:  

“The whole work of priestly formation would be 
deprived of its necessary foundation if it lacked a suitable 
human formation. […]. Future priests should therefore 



200 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

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. They 
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.19 
Formators must first of all possess these qualities in themselves 

in order to be able to discern them in the candidates for priesthood. On-
going formation of formators should consider helping in the area of 
developing personal self-respect for the truth and respect for dignity of 
the human person and the diversities of opinions. A rigid approach to 
every aspect of human life is unhealthy. To have balance judgment, a 
formator will have to be capable of making assessment that are not 
influenced by their ethnicity. On-going formation of formators should 
also focus on how to work in a multi-ethnic diverse society.  

The candidates for the priesthood are expected to display a great 
sense of affective maturity and sound human sexuality. This will enable 
the person to be able to minister as a celibate priest to everyone in the 
pastoral field. The life style of formators most times constitute the model 
upon which seminarians build their future upon. Formators should be 
role models in the area of affective maturity. The formation of the 
conscience of the candidates should be sound.20 

Spiritual formation requires that the candidates have a deeper 
communion with Christ who is inviting them to work in his vineyard. 
“Spiritual formation has its roots in the experience of the cross, which in 
deep communion leads to the totality of the paschal mystery.”21 
Formators are to be concerned with the spiritual life of the candidates for 
the priesthood. A spirituality that is devoid of communion with the 
suffering Christ must not be promoted. The current trend of seeking 
miraculous healings in almost every case of illness point to an unhealthy 
spirituality especially by priests who promote such beliefs. Although, 
Spiritual Directors are primarily responsible for the spiritual formation 
of the seminarian, all other formators must have some rudimentary 
knowledge on spiritual formation. The provisions of Optatam Totius 
should be observed in the area of spiritual formation: 

Spiritual formation should be conducted in such a way that the 
students may learn to live in intimate and unceasing union with God the 
Father through his Son Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit. Those who are 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    201 

to take on the likeness of Christ the priest by sacred ordination should 
form the habit of drawing close to him as friends in every detail of their 
lives. They should live his paschal mystery in such a way that they will 
know how to initiate into it the people committed to their charge. They 
should be taught to seek Christ in faithful meditation on the word of 
God and in active participation in the sacred mysteries of the Church, 
especially the Eucharist and the Divine Office, to seek him in the bishop 
by whom they are sent and in the people to whom they are sent, 
especially the poor, little children, the weak, sinners and unbelievers. 
With the confidence of sons they should love and reverence the most 
blessed Virgin Mary, who was given as a mother to the disciple by Jesus 
Christ as he was dying on the cross."22 

The intellectual formation of candidates to the priesthood is 
rooted in the fact that human beings are called to participate in the Light 
of God’s mind.23 Through this way, the human being is able to confront 
the new challenges that comes up in evangelization. The educational 
formation of the formators is essential in the area of intellectual 
formation. It is expected that formators continue to engage in further 
researches in their respective area of discipline. Attending conferences, 
seminars, symposiums etc are some of the ways of ensuring on-going 
formation of the formator as it relates to intellectual formation. There 
should be reasonable financial budget to encourage formators to seek on-
going formation in their respective disciplines. In this way, they will be 
able to proffer new solutions to contemporary pastoral challenges in an 
intellectual manner to the students.  

In the area of intellectual formation, formators should be able to 
help with a balanced sense of inculturation of the faith. Christianity 
should not be presented as foreign to any culture.24 The resurgence of 
many superstitious beliefs within the Christian community is a sign of 
lack of proper intellectual formation. The growing trend of exorcising 
none possessed persons, the preaching of prosperity gospel in order to 
raise fund to complete some projects that in some cases are not even 
essential to the life of the Church, and the personalization of sacramental 
celebrations are just a few indicators that the intellectual formation is 
deficient in these priests. Formators must engage rigorously the culture 
of the people and identify unhealthy elements and promote healthy 
elements as tools of evangelization.  

Pastoral Formation is the goal of the entire formation. The 
formators must seek ways to truly prepare the candidate to be able to 
work effectively in the pastoral field:  
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 



202 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

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 work25 

Whenever there is a disconnect with pastoral theology and 
practical experience, the faithful are confused. Whenever there is a 
disconnect between magisterial teaching and the practices promoted by 
priests the faithful are confused. The parish life presents the faithful with 
various challenges regarding the faith. There are so many contradictory 
doctrines promoted outside the Church and unfortunately now even 
within the Church. The Churches moral teaching rooted in Humanae 
Vitae, the observance of well-formed conscience and spirituality that are 
in line with the traditional teachings of the Church are often being 
tactically discarded and replaced by new trends in doctrine. These new 
trends preach a life that is empty of the cross and one filled with 
abundant material blessings with a robust health. The new trend 
promotes spiritual destruction of ones’ human enemies, with selective 
scriptural citations from the Old Testament.  

Giving the constant fluctuation of life styles in behaviour, in 
taste, in fashion, and modes of living, the question has always been raised 
as to whether the formators should also change some essentials in the 
area of formations. The Nigerian society today is greatly saturated with 
prosperity gospel, proliferation of healing ministries and diverse style of 
programs. Wide publicity through the various social media and banners 
where the pictures of the ministers dots every nukes and crannies of the 
city. The opinion of some Catholics have been; will the Church not 
change the method of training priests so that they can at least acquire the 
skills of these Pentecostal preachers. For such persons this is an 
existential question for the Church. They often argue that there is a 
constant migration of Catholics to the new ecclesial communities or 
churches because they provide them with the kind of spirituality that 
they like. Although, there is hardly any convincing statistics to back up 
such claims, the fact that they are constantly being made, demands 
attention of every well-meaning Catholic.  

Formators in the Seminary must be conversant with on-going 
pastoral dimension. The seminary should not be so cloistered that the 
formators are completely unaware of the new development in parish life. 
The goal of the formation process is to prepare candidates to becoming 
priests and who will work in the ministry. It will therefore be necessary 
that strict observance of the policy that require formators to spend some 
time in parish ministry during the long period of seminary vacation be 
adhered to. It is perhaps relevant to note the emphasis Pope Francis 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    203 

places on pastoral experience of members of the Vatican Diplomatic 
Corp. Pope Francis recently directed that those who are to become Papal 
Nuncio are to undergo at least one year of pastoral ministry. In this way, 
they will have personal experience of pastoral life. The same principle 
should be applied to formators in the seminary. At least a period of one-
year pastoral work as a priest should be required before a formator 
assumes office in the seminary.  
 
Obstacles to Forming the Formators 
This research to a great extent assume that seminary formators are 
priests. Although, this assumption is not absolutely true, because there 
are very good religious sisters involved in formation as well as well-
educated lay faithful. But our research will be primarily concerned about 
formators who are priests. Let us briefly highlight some of the challenges 
or obstacles to ongoing formation of formators.  
 
The “Final Goal” Syndrome 
Many professions that have long years of training do have ongoing 
education fatigue. When there is no financial remuneration for 
embarking on further education in the area of specialty, the person is 
further less motivated. Priests who are formators in the seminary have all 
gone through close to ten years of seminary formation and pastoral work. 
Many of them have also completed several post-graduate studies. 
Although, there are no well-known publications of the numbers of 
seminary formators with Doctorate Degree, but a cursory look at the 
number of formators in most of the seminaries in Nigeria will indicate 
that close to 90 percent of these formators do have doctorate degrees. 
Those without it are in most cases in the process of obtaining the degree. 
This is expected in every academic community and the seminary should 
not be an exception.  

However, the need for ongoing formation still remains even after 
obtaining a doctorate degree in the various relevant disciplines. There is a 
general believe born out of perception that once a person is ordained a 
priest, the person has “arrived.” This arrival mindset can impede 
openness to further education and formation. For any priest to consider 
the priesthood as end in itself can become a challenge towards growing 
in wisdom and knowledge as it was reported by the Gospel of Luke 2:52 
regarding Christ human nature. The anti-dote to the final goal syndrome 
is to imitate Christ who grew in wisdom. There is no final goal for any 
human being on this earth.  
 
 
 



204 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

Lack of Mandatory Ongoing Formation of Formators 
There is hardly any well-articulated demand for ongoing formation of 
formators. The knowledge of the formators in their respective disciplines 
such as Scripture, Systematic Study or Dogma, Moral Theology, Pastoral 
Theology, Liturgy, Philosophy, Psychology, Spirituality, Canon Law and 
other relevant secular disciplines is not sufficient to be effective 
formators. These disciplines do not in themselves provide the priests 
formators with all the necessary skills to accompany and discern the 
vocation of the seminarian. There should be mandatory ongoing 
formation in the area of discernment and accompanying of the candidate 
towards the priesthood. We had earlier pointed this out when we 
discoursed the presentation of Jorge Carlos Patrong Wong.  
 
Lack of Proper Enforcement of Promotion Based on Publication 
and Research 
In the academic community, the people are concerned about researches 
and publications. Promotion is based upon publication of well 
researched papers on reputable Journal that enjoy blind rigorous peer 
review. Participation at international Conferences and regular ongoing 
research are all taken seriously. In fact, it is sometimes put in sayings like: 
“publish or perish.” This goes to underscore the value placed upon 
ongoing formation of lecturers. However, with a somewhat equal 
priestly status that the sacramental order establishes, there is less 
motivation to publish. The perception of a priest with several 
publications and one who has no publication is not different in the eyes 
of many faithful. It may be time to review establishing merit-based 
promotion following the NUC regulation. Formators with more 
publication should have their papers assessed and the Appointment and 
Promotion Board of the Seminary should help to ensure that there is 
reward for such efforts of formators. The proper academic hierarchy 
should be well entrenched. The template provided by the Institutions 
that the seminary is affiliated to will help in this area. In other words, a 
formator who has enough publications to move from Lecturer II to 
Lecturer I, to Senior Lecturer to Associate Professor (Reader) and to full 
professor should be observed with corresponding financial 
remuneration. Although, priests are expected to live out the promise of 
poverty, it is nonetheless desirable to enhance their capacity to do charity 
to others from their legitimately earned income.  
 
Performance Review 
Most establishments do have performance review system. Performance 
indicators or indices are established to be used in the evaluation of 
persons. Some establishments will have indices such as productivity, 



Section 1: Ecclesiastical/Theological Perspectives And Seminary Formation    205 

punctuality, impact on the live of the people, compatibility with fellow 
workers, health condition, mental fitness etc. It is true that all these 
indices may not be applicable to formators in the seminary, but it will be 
of great service towards helping to form formators if a general template 
that could be adopted is established. Performance indices such as 
openness to pastoral availability, accessibility of a formator by students, 
readiness to comply with seminary statutes, moral uprightness of the 
formator, the psychological mindset, the physical health etc. It may also 
be of help if students are allowed to make objective impute in the process 
of this assessment.  
 
Conclusion 
The pastoral ministry of the priest is very essential to the fulfilment of 
the mission of Christ to the Church. Therefore, the formation of 
candidates to the priesthood is of great importance to the vitality of the 
Church. The quality of formators in the seminary greatly influences the 
quality of candidates for the priesthood that the seminary trains. The 
ongoing formation of formators becomes essential to the faith formation 
of the faithful. If the formators impact knowledge that are relevant to the 
pastoral challenges the seminarians will face in the priestly ministry, the 
latter will be able to render effective pastoral services to the faithful. 
Forming the formator is part of the call to go out and make disciples of 
all nations. Part of the response of the Church to the mission of Christ 
therefore includes making provisions for ongoing formation of 
formators.  
 
 
Endnotes
                                                      
1 Canon 232. All citations from the 1983 Code of Canon Law are taken from, Codex 

iuris canonici, auctoritate Ioannis Pauli II promulgatus, fontium asnnotatione et 

indice analyticoalphabetico auctus, Libreria editrice Vaticana, 1989, English 

translation Code of Canon Law: Latin-English Edition, prepared under the auspices 

of the CANON LAW SOCIETY OF AMERICA, Washington, Canon Law Society of 

America, 1999. 
2 Canon 237. 
3 See canon 247. 
4 For a comprehensive reading on formation of virtues during seminary formation, 

see, Mercitta Kannampuzha, “The Role of Virtues in Formation Programmes: 

Seminaries and Religious Houses,” in The Living Word, 124/3 (2018), pp. 123-142. 
5 Canon 211. 
6 See Carlos Patron Wong, “The Gift of Priestly Vocation,” Symposium for 

Formation Teams English-Speaking Seminaries of Canada 4-7 April 2019. 
7 Ibid. 



206 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

                                                                                                                         
8 8 See Carlos Patron Wong, “Accompaniment and Discernment of Priestly 

Vocation,” Symposium for Formation Teams English-Speaking Seminaries of 

Canada 4-7 April 2019 
9 Ibid. 
10 Ibid. 
11 See Ibid. 
12 See, Rajakumar Joseph, “Ministerial Priesthood and Integral Formation. Revisiting 

Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis (The Gift of Priestly Vocation),” in 

Vidyajyoti, 83 1/18, (2020), pp. 24-47;  John McAreavey, “The Formation of a 

Celibate Clergy.” In ITQ 64 (1999), 261-275; Antony Valungal, “Spiritual Formation 

to Become a Missionary Disciple and Pastor in the Document of the Gift of the 

Priestly Vocation,” in The Living Word, 122/6 (2016), pp. 334-352;James J. Conn, 

“Reflections on some recent norms on priestly formation,” in Periodical 98 (2009), 

pp. 1-32; Gordon Read, “Seminary Formation and the Discernment of Priestly 

Vocations,” in Canon Law Society Newsletter, (2011), pp., 35-40; Rajesh Pollayil, 

“Psychological Dimensions of Priestly Formation,” in The Living Word, (2017), pp. 

30-48; Mylo Hubert C. Vergara, “Pastoral Charity: Goal of Priestly Formation in the 

Light of Deus Caritas Est,” in Immaculate Conception School of Theology Journal, 9 

(2007), pp. 5-15; Orlando B. Quevedo, “Notes on the Human Formation of Priests,” 

in Philippine Canonical Forum IX (2007), pp. 251-257; Michael Nobel, “Academic 

Aspects of Priestly Formation in the 1983 Code of Canon Law,” in Studia canonical, 

42 (2008), pp. 437-471; J. Ponnore, “Spiritual Formation of the Diocesan Priest,” in 

Vidyajyoti,, 68 (2005),pp.  595-605; Jobi Thomas Thurackal, “Role of Values in 

Personality and Spiritual Development of Catholic Seminarians in India,” in The 

Living Word 124/3 (2018), pp. 95-122; Mercitta Kannampuzha, “The Role of Virtues 

in Formation Programmes: Seminaries and Religious Houses,” in The Living Word, 

124/3 (2018), pp. 123-142. 
13 OP, no. 1. All citation of Optatam Totius Decree on the Training of Priests are 

taken from www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-

ii_decree_19651028_optatam-totius_en.html.  
14 OP, no.4.  
15 OP, no. 4. 
16 OP, no. 5.  
17 John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, no. 1, from 

www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-

ii_exh_25031992_pastores-dabo-vobis.html (=PDV) 
18 PDV, no. 2. 
19 PDV, no. 43. 
20 PDV, no. 44. 
21 PDV, no. 45. 
22 Op, no. 8. 
23 PDV, no. 51 
24 PDV, no. 55. 
25 PDV, no. 58.