487 

36 

SEMINARY FORMATION AND MODERN 

MEANS OF COMMUNICATION: ISSUES 

AND POSSIBILITIES 
 

Hilary Oseabulu ODENORE, Ph.D 
Catholic Diocese of Uromi 

osichair@gmail.com 
 
Abstract 
The means of Social Communications in modern times have developed 
to such an extent as to be able to exert profound influence on every 
aspect of human endeavour. This development has coincided with a 
gradual shift in the Church’s Hierarchy's overall attitude towards the said 
means of Social Communications, from one of suspicion and rejection 
(especially in the early years of the Cinema), to critical understanding 
and appreciation. This shift in approach invites ongoing critical reflection 
on how the Church can better understand these providential gifts to 
man, so as to engender a responsible use of them that will result in better 
persons, faithful Christians and a more committed, evangelizing Church. 
The formation of future priests is an important locus for the deepening of 
the Church’s appreciation of these means of communication. It is 
imperative for future priests, a good number of whom are Digital 
Natives, to develop a keen understanding of the culture of the modern 
means of communication, and it’s implication for the Church’s mission. 
Using the extant situation in the Major Seminaries of the Old Lagos 
Ecclesiastical Province as a case study, this paper attempts to raise issues 
bordering on the implications of the present state of the means of Social 
Communications for the human person as a whole. These issues will be 
correlated with possibilities that can be applied to Seminary formation, 
so as to highlight some valuable lessons for the Church. 
 
Keywords: Social Communication, Formation, Digital, Seminary 
 
 
 



488 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

Introduction  
In 1986, the Pontifical Council for Catholic Education issued the Guide 
to the Training of Future Priests concerning the Means of Social Communication.  
The rationale behind this was…  
…so that the preparation of future priests in this regard may be less 
inadequate and may better meet their needs in the work that awaits 
them, the Congregation for Catholic Education, having consulted widely 
with experts in the matter, and especially with the Pontifical 
Commission for Social Communications, is pleased to offer to 
seminaries the present "Guide" in the hope that it will help in some way 
in carrying out their responsibilities. Whatever possible future 
developments and local diversity of situation there may be, all institutes 
of priestly formation must today urgently face a common core of 
fundamental questions concerning the personal conduct of receivers, the 
pastoral use of the mass media, and specialized formation for particular 
works.1 

This was a landmark document, in so far as its subject matter is 
concerned. It showed the Church playing her maternal role and 
appreciating the influence that the means of Social Communications 
exercise on every aspect of human endeavour, influence which while 
largely positive, could also be damaging to the fabric of human society. 
Thus, the Guide sets out to ensure that “future priests [are] trained in 
the seminary in the correct use of these instruments. This provision 
had a threefold purpose, namely, that the seminarians might impose 
discipline on their own personal use of the media, that they might be 
able to train the faithful in their turn to exercise similar self-discipline, 
and that they might learn how to use the media in their apostolate”2. 

Since 1986 till date, the world has undergone transformation in 
many ways, not least of which is that fact that we are now witnessing the 
entrenchment of the digital age, and its implications for the humanity. 
Unlike what obtained then, which was largely restricted to the Print and 
Electronic Media, the inception of the World Wide Web (www) in 
March 1989, coupled with the proliferation of computers in portable 
forms, radically transformed the means of Social Communication and 
the ways persons make use of them. The advent of the smartphone as 
well, has created ‘a whole new world’ as regards how people 
communicate.  

This ‘new world’ needs priests, just like other ‘worlds’ or epochs 
have always needed priests. These priests need to be prepared and trained 
in how to effectively serve in this ‘world’ after the example of the Good 
Shepherd, Jesus, who has such a relationship with the sheep that He 
knows them, they know Him, and they listen to His voice and do what 
He asks them to do (cf John 10:1-21).  



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    489 

 

This paper argues that in the Spirit of the 1986 Guide, we need to update 
our present approach to the formation of future priests on the means of 
Social Communication, so that they can function more effectively as 
pastors post priestly ordination. The paper will have the following 
sections: 
 The Essence of Seminary Formation (according to the Magisterium) 
 Communication Formation within Seminary Formation 
 Modern Means of Communication – Overview 
 Modern Means of Communication – Possibilities for Formation 
 Modern Means of Communication – Issues in Formation 
 The Baby or the Bath water?  
 
The Essence of Seminary Formation:  
The setting up of seminaries for the training of future priests, can be 
traced to the Council of Trent. In its legislation De Seminariis, the Sacred 
Council “…made it obligatory for every Diocese to erect a seminary for 
the purpose of educating the local clergy. Whenever possible, this 
institution was to be built near the cathedral church so that young 
aspirants to the priesthood might serve a sort of apprenticeship there by 
participating, each according his rank, in the divine offices presided by 
the Bishop”3 

Before this decree of the Council, seminary formation had 
always tried to mirror what Jesus did with his disciples, in the three plus 
years they spent with Him. During this period, they learnt from Him, 
before being entrusted with the mission to go into the whole world and 
baptize those who received their teaching about Jesus (Matthew 28:19-
20). It was similar to what Paul did with Timothy, and what continued in 
the early centuries of the Church, leading up to the Patristic era and to 
the Middle Ages. We observe that there was always some form of 
training of future clerics, and this training was not cut off entirely from 
the community where they would serve in the future. There is the 
opinion that “with the breakdown of feudalism and the rise of 
universities, this ancient system of clerical formation became either 
impoverished or generally abandoned. As a result, a large segment of the 
late medieval and pre-Reformation clergy received inadequate training 
and were very often ordained for an office they were not sufficiently 
equipped to exercise”4 

The Council of Trent therefore, concerned with the laxity in 
clerical life and the harm that this was causing the Church, used De 
Seminariis to set the motion for a uniform but high standard for priestly 
formation, imperative on all the Dioceses in the world, so as to 



490 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

checkmate the possibility of unsuitable and poorly prepared candidates 
being ordained as priests.  

This has remained the essence of seminary formation. In the 
words of Optatam Totius, the Second Vatican Council’s decree on Priestly 
Training, …major seminaries are necessary for priestly formation. Here 
the entire training of the students should be oriented to the formation of 
true shepherds of souls after the model of our Lord Jesus Christ, teacher, 
priest and shepherd. They are therefore to be prepared for the ministry 
of the word: that they might understand ever more perfectly the revealed 
word of God; that, meditating on it they might possess it more firmly, 
and that they might express it in words and in example; for the ministry 
of worship and of sanctification: that through their prayers and their 
carrying out of the sacred liturgical celebrations they might perfect the 
work of salvation through the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments; 
for the ministry of the parish: that they might know how to make Christ 
present to men, Him who did not "come to be served but to serve and to 
give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45; cf. John 13:12-17), and 
that, having become the servants of all, they might win over all the more 
(cf. 1 Cor. 9:19). Therefore, all the forms of training, spiritual, 
intellectual, disciplinary, are to be ordered with concerted effort towards 
this pastoral end, and to attain it all the administrators and teachers are to 
work zealously and harmoniously together, faithfully obedient to the 
authority of the bishop.5 

The rinovamento brought about by the Second Vatican council, 
was keenly felt in the Seminaries. While what obtained prior to the 
council was not inadequate, the changes the Council advocated in the 
Liturgy and the Pastoral life of the Church, coupled with the stress on 
the dignity of the laity, meant that future priests needed to be trained 
diligently in the demands of the pastoral life. Priests, more than before, 
are to be immersed in the life of their flock, so that they can better direct 
them spiritually. Hence, “…those capabilities are to be developed in the 
students which especially contribute to dialogue with men, such as the 
ability to listen to others and to open their hearts and minds in the spirit 
of charity to the various circumstances and needs of men”6. 

In 1990, we had the 8th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod 
of Bishops, with the theme ‘The Formation of Priests in Circumstances 
of the Present Day’. The Synod has been described as very pastoral in 
tone, and directed towards placing stress on priestly formation and the 
person of the priest himself, before and after ordination7. In the Post-
Synodal Apostolic Exhortation following the Assembly, Pastores Dabo 
Vobis, we read; 

This same synod also sought to answer a request which was 
made at the previous synod on the vocation and mission of 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    491 

 

the laity in the Church and in the world. Lay people 
themselves had asked that priests commit themselves to 
their formation so that they, the laity, could be suitably 
helped to fulfill their role in the ecclesial mission which is 
shared by all. Indeed, "the more the lay apostolate develops, 
the more strongly is perceived the need to have well - 
formed holy priests… The more the laity's own sense of 
vocation is deepened, the more what is proper to the priest 
stands out."8 

It is instructive therefore, in the light of this expressed desire to redefine 
or re-emphasize the identity of the priest, to consider what the Synod 
Fathers considered the essence of Seminary formation. So, after 
reflecting on the challenges to priestly life, the present state of vocations 
in the Church, and the Spiritual life of the Priest, the Synod Fathers then 
reflected on the formation of candidates for the Priesthood.   

…In this sense, the "seminary" in its different forms - and 
analogously the "house" of formation for religious priests - 
more than a place, a material space, should be a spiritual 
place, a way of life, an atmosphere that fosters and ensures a 
process of formation, so that the person who is called to the 
priesthood by God may become, with the sacrament of 
orders, a living image of Jesus Christ, head and shepherd of 
the Church. In their final message the Synod Fathers have 
grasped in a direct and deep way the original and specific 
meaning of the formation of candidates for the priesthood, 
when they say that "To live in the seminary, which is a 
school of the Gospel, means to follow Christ as the apostles 
did. You are led by Christ into the service of God the 
Father and of all people, under the guidance of the Holy 
Spirit. Thus you become more like Christ the Good 
Shepherd in order better to serve the Church and the world 
as a priest."9 
Suffice it to say that the same Synod Fathers had already outlined 

what is expected of the Priest. “it is equally certain that the life and 
ministry of the priest must also "adapt to every era and circumstance of 
life.... to be as open as possible to light from on high from the Holy 
Spirit, in order to discover the tendencies of contemporary society, 
recognize the deepest spiritual needs, determine the most important 
concrete tasks and the pastoral methods to adopt, and thus respond 
adequately to human expectations."10 

Other documents that address the theme of Seminary formation, 
have more or less the same idea.11 Seminary formation is basically a 
period when candidates who feel called to the serve in the ministerial 



492 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

priesthood, are accompanied in shaping themselves after the example of 
their Lord Jesus Christ, so as to be able to serve the people of God, for 
whom God bestows the gift of priestly vocations in the first instance.  
 
Communication Formation within Seminary Formation  
The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Pastores Dabo Vobis identifies 
four major pillars of Seminary formation, viz, Spiritual, Human, 
Intellectual and Pastoral formation. To successfully situate 
communication formation within these pillars, it will be important to 
define communications as a reality.  

Etymologically, communication is directly from the Latin 
comunicationem, which means ‘making common or imparting’.  It can also 
be considered from the past-participle stem of communicare, which means 
‘to share, divide out, impart, inform, join, unite, participate in’.12  
Lexically, communication refers to “a process by which information is 
exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, 
signs and behaviour”.13 In addition, Scholars of communication proffer 
different definitions of the reality. Popular definitions however tend to 
all accept the fact that communication has to do with the sharing of 
meaning through some commonly understood language.  

If we accept this understanding of communication, then we will 
see that it actually cuts across the four pillars of priestly formation of 
Spiritual, Human, Intellectual and Pastoral formation. For instance, as 
regards human formation, it has been said that “formation for the 
priesthood must necessarily provide adequate means to allow for 
maturation in view of an authentic exercise of the priestly ministry. To 
this end, the seminarian is called upon to develop his personality, having 
Christ, the perfect man, as his model and source”14  

For the seminarian to make progress as regards his human 
formation, communication is essential, as “the use of the media and ease 
with the digital world are an integral part of the development of the 
personality of the seminarian, because, using new communication 
technologies, priests can introduce people to the life of the Church and 
help our contemporaries to discover the face of Christ”15 

The same is true of Spiritual formation. All the tools of spiritual 
formation listed in the Ratio Fundamentalis depend on communication. 
Personal union with Christ through prolonged and personal prayer 
needs a combination of intrapersonal and interpersonal communication 
to be effective. Lectio Divina is based on the printed medium of the 
Sacred Scriptures, just like the Liturgy of the Hours. The Sacrament of 
Penance and Spiritual Direction involve dyadic communication, through 
which the Spiritual Director and the Confessor serve as God’s 
instruments to get the seminarian to open up with sincerity, trust and 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    493 

 

docility. Daily participation in the Eucharist is also a deep 
communicative experience at different levels.  

The fact is that in the real sense, there is no formation without 
communication, as it underlies everything that goes on in the Seminary. 
And even when the concept gets restricted to the tools that facilitate it, 
otherwise known as the means of communication, it still cuts across the 
four pillars, as these means are always being used in the formation 
process.  
 
Modern Means of Social Communication: An Overview 
Traditionally, the study of communication takes into consideration the 
different levels at which people communicate. These are; 
1.  Intrapersonal level, where communication that takes place within a 

person or carried out by a person that he/she does not intend to share 
with others. 

2.  Inter-personal communication, which occurs between two persons, 
and is also known as dyadic communication. 

3.  Small group communication, which refers to communication that 
takes place within a group of persons, with a minimum of three and a 
maximum of twenty. 

4.  Public communication, that is, communication between a person 
and an audience beyond 20 people. 

5.  Mass communication, which is communication involving a person 
or an entity and a usually large and undifferentiated number of 
persons.  

Each level of communication has the possibility of making use of a 
medium to facilitate the communication process. It is such media that 
are referred to as the means of communication. Another way to define 
them sees them as “the various methods of sending information between 
people and places, especially phones, computers, radio, et cetera”16  

Since man became self-aware, and saw the need to reach out to 
others, he has made use of different techniques to do so. The human 
voice for instance, is a very important means of communication, and 
based on this we have language and by extension, writing, as other 
examples of the older means of communication.  

In modern times, and in the light of the available body of 
knowledge on the different levels of communication, it is difficult to 
proffer an exhaustive list of the means of communication currently used 
by persons. However and in no particular order, we can talk of the 
following; voice, books, newspapers, magazines and periodicals, pagers, 
computers, word processors, radio, facsimile machines, telephones, 
smartphones, telegraph, television, and so on17 



494 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

While not exhaustive, the means of communications mentioned 
above cuts across the different great epochs of communication that 
humanity has experienced, viz, the phase of Primary Orality; the age of 
Writing; the period of the Press; the age of the Electric Media; and the 
Digital age.18 Courses on the History of Human Communications use 
these epochs to help students situate the development of 
communications from the earliest men and women till now, 
acknowledging the fact that innovations in successive epochs tend to 
build upon the achievements of preceding ones, rather than obliterate 
them.  

Presently, we are in the digital epoch, the beginning of which we 
can attribute to the invention of the first computer, and the birth of the 
possibility of representing phenomena in numerical form. In this epoch, 
we have witnessed the passage from analogue to digital systems in 
communications; the computerization of the systems of communications 
and the creation of integral multimedia networks, especially in the case 
of the internet. We have also experienced the movement of media 
towards portability, so as to facilitate the accessing of services at any point 
in space, and the passage of the mass media into personal media.19  

It is in this wise that we will consider one of the most significant 
inventions of the digital age; the smartphone. The dictionary defines the 
smartphone as “a mobile phone that can be used as a small computer and 
that connects to the internet”.20 This definition is quite modest. In fact, 
the typical smartphone has advanced computing capabilities, with which 
it can access web pages and browse the web using data networks or Wi-Fi 
support and mobile broadband. It also has the capacity to interact with 
other devices using Bluetooth and near field communication, such that 
information can still be passed across in the absence of internet 
connectivity. The smartphone can view, edit and share different types of 
documents, since it can run applications that enable such. It can 
download different types of files, take photos and record videos, offer 
music playback and view movies, amongst others. It can serve as a radio, 
language translator, store dictionaries and encyclopedia, compass and 
magnifying glass and so on.  

The smartphone can serve as a calendar, a clock, a directory 
containing list of contacts, can download, store and read maps for 
navigational purposes as well as give weather updates. It can assist the 
user carry out financial transactions, keep accounts and make budgets, 
track funds and finances, make travel arrangements, monitor heart rate, 
organize ones activities as well as provide entertainment. It can serve as a 
library where e-books and downloaded content are stored for further 
reference. And with the advent of the ‘internet of things’21 we now have 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    495 

 

users who use their smartphones to secure and operate their homes and 
appliances.  

The smartphone can do all these because it is actually a 
“modernized personal digital assistant (PDA) with wireless connectivity 
compact in design with a high-resolution touch screen, multi-touch 
interface and QWERTY keyboard22. The smartphone is not essential for 
healthy living, but in this digital age, it enhances and makes life easier.  
 
Modern Means of Communication – Possibilities for Formation: 
In his message on the 44th World Communications Day, Pope Benedict 
XVI said  

…priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world 
of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the 
Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of 
communities which increasingly express themselves with 
the different “voices” provided by the digital marketplace. 
Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by 
employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources, 
which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new 
vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis. Using 
new communication technologies, priests can introduce 
people to the life of the Church and help our 
contemporaries to discover the face of Christ. They will 
best achieve this aim if they learn, from the time of 
their formation, how to use these technologies in a 
competent and appropriate way, shaped by sound 
theological insights and reflecting a strong priestly 
spirituality grounded in constant dialogue with the 
Lord. Yet priests present in the world of digital 
communications should be less notable for their media 
savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ. 
This will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also 
will give a “soul” to the fabric of communications that 
makes up the “Web”. 23 
We have tried to argue earlier, that communication as a reality, 

cuts across the four pillars of priestly formation, and the means of 
communication are already being used in formation. In addition to this, 
it is a truism that “those who begin the Seminary journey are, for the 
most part, already naturally adept and immersed in the digital world and 
its instruments”. 24 Indeed practically every student in the three major 
seminaries of the Old Lagos Ecclesiastical Province for instance, is a 
digital native25 This is why it has been recommended that  



496 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

…social networks should be integrated into the daily life of 
the Seminary community in a particular way (by a use that 
is vigilant, but also serene and positive). They should be 
experienced as places that offer new possibilities from the 
point of view of interpersonal relationships, of encounter 
with others, of engagement with one’s neighbor, of the 
witness of faith. These may all be viewed from the 
perspective of formative growth, which cannot fail to take 
into consideration every place in which relationships are 
formed and in which we find ourselves living. 26 
The modern means of communications offer many possibilities 

for formation. We can consider this especially from two of the pillars of 
formation which we left out earlier, Intellectual and Pastoral.  
Intellectual formation is “aimed at achieving for seminarians a solid 
competence in Philosophy and Theology, along with a more general 
educational preparation, enough to allow them to proclaim the Gospel 
message to the people of our own day in a way that is credible and can be 
understood…”27 

The means of communication will help to open up for the 
individual seminarian, fonts of knowledge that will be otherwise difficult 
to access. The presence of electronic libraries in Nigerian Universities 
and Major Seminaries is testament to the fact there are inadequate 
materials in the physical libraries of these institutions. This fact has been 
lamented for a long time, and if truth be told, as it affects universities, so 
it affects seminaries. The e-library simply makes it possible to gain access 
to materials otherwise impossible to get.  

Going forward, there is the need to progress beyond the idea that 
the presence of an e-library with a certain number of computers in a 
Seminary completely fills this need. This is especially true of Seminaries 
in the Old Lagos Ecclesiastical Province, which each boasts of functional 
and relatively well equipped e-libraries. But can we say that 30 
computers in an e-library are sufficient for over 180 students? Or 50 for 
400 students?  

One of the ways the Seminaries have employed in getting around 
this dearth of computers is the use of computers owned by liturgico-
cultural groups and other associations by the students, in a designated 
area. This helps to lessen the burden, but there is still a long way to go, as 
there remains a significant shortfall in the number of available computers 
vis-à-vis the population of students.  

The academic contemporaries of these young men in formation 
(undergraduate students in universities) do not have the same challenge. 
It is either the universities (mostly private universities) insist on each 
student having a personal computer, to facilitate learning on-line, or the 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    497 

 

students are allowed to use their smart phones for the same purposes that 
the computer does. The fact is that such institutions have made 
advancements in the digitalization of their processes, and any student 
without the relevant accessory to function in that environment is as good 
as being a ‘non’ student. This is because apart from being cut off from 
the academic activities of the school, he/she will end up being grossly 
unprepared for life after the university, in a world where 58.7% of 
persons (or roughly 3 out of every 5 persons) has access to the internet.28 

It is our considered opinion that seminarians in formation 
should be able to take advantage of the available technologies which add 
value to their training. A seminarian with a smartphone, can have access 
to countless materials, books, documents and sources, which may not be 
in the physical library (and if there, not in sufficient quantity for the time 
needed for in-depth study), and which while accessible via the e-library, 
he may also not be able to use it properly due to reasons given above.  

He can use his smartphone to prepare and submit assignments, 
which will be beneficial in three ways; one, it will help lecturers enforce 
deadlines, through platforms that will be time-limited (thus improving 
the discipline of the seminarian); two, it will reduce cost and waste to be 
incurred via printing on paper; and most importantly, it will eliminate 
plagiarism from the seminary system, as such soft copies can easily be 
uploaded to anti-plagiarism software for checks and assessments.  

In addition, the seminarian who is open to formation will be 
assisted to develop a healthy reading habit, in consonance with the best 
traditions of priestly life. This is because, while there appears to be a 
worldwide decline in the number of persons reading books29, there is an 
appreciable increase in the number of hours spent online. This is one of 
the effects of the phase of digitalization that we are in currently, and 
while no one can predict the future as to whether this trend will be 
reversed or it will become more entrenched, there is wisdom in 
preparing the future priest to spend this time online constructively. He 
can be trained to create virtual reading libraries, and challenged to read 
works on-line with his smartphone.  

As regards Pastoral formation, being schooled in the means of 
communication helps the seminarian to understand his flock, who are 
completely immersed in this new world. Increasingly, priests are having 
to carry out pastoral ministry online. This is the reason why Dioceses, 
Parishes, Institutions and even certain individuals have 
webpages/websites, and maintain an online presence, conscious of the 
implications of web 2.0 for such webpages/websites.  

In addition, the presence on social networks and the floating of 
Blogs, Vlogs, YouTube channels and Podcasts, are efforts made to reach 



498 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

the people in that space where many of them prefer to be. It is a response 
to the signs of the times, already articulated by Pope Benedict XVI, when 
he stated  
…responding adequately to this challenge amid today’s cultural shifts, to 
which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using 
new communications technologies. The world of digital communication, 
with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the 
more Saint Paul’s exclamation: “Woe to me if I do not preach the 
Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16) The increased availability of the new technologies 
demands greater responsibility on the part of those called to proclaim the 
Word, but it also requires them to become become more focused, 
efficient and compelling in their efforts. Priests stand at the threshold of 
a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across 
greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the 
media ever more effectively at the service of the Word. 30 

It is while in the seminary that the future priest will learn how to 
not only use the means of communication in his pastoral ministry, but 
also how to be a shepherd to his flock, who are fully immersed in this 
digital environment. This can be seen as a variant of anticipatory 
socialization31, whereby the future priest learns how to manage the 
pastoral challenges that are associated with the digital age, by assuming 
these roles while in formation, and thus benefits from his experiences.  
 
Modern Means of Communication – Issues in Formation:  
It is instructive that in the same section where it is said that “the Church, 
in virtue of the mandate received from Christ, looks confidently at the 
possibilities offered by the digital world for evangelization…”32, we also 
read the following; “it is necessary to pay prudent attention to the 
inevitable risks that come with frequenting the digital world, including 
various forms of addiction, which can be addressed with suitable spiritual 
and psychological supports”33 

There is need for vigilance in the use of the modern means of 
communication. The digital age and its main facilitator, the internet is 
neither morally ambivalent nor wholly positive. Indeed, “people in 
emerging and developing nations say that the increasing use of the 
internet has been a good influence in the realms of education, personal 
relationships and the economy. But despite all the benefits of these new 
technologies, on balance people are more likely to say that the internet is 
a negative rather than a positive influence on morality…”34 

The seminarian in formation is yet to complete his journey of 
personality integration and configuration to the person of Christ. This 
means that when he has a smartphone in his possession, it could expose 
him to some harm, especially in the following ways; 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    499 

 

1. Illegal downloading of copyrighted materials: As prevalent as this is, 
downloading of copyrighted materials without the permission of the 
owner of the intellectual property is wrong (and in some cases liable 
to prosecution).  

2. Negative Impact on Human Socialization: One of the effects of 
smartphones and by extension, social networks, is that persons now 
interact more via such platforms than face-to-face communication. 
This is impacting negatively on families, religious communities, 
rectories, offices and so on. There is the danger that with the 
smartphone in his possession, the Seminarian will also be guilty of 
this trend.  

3. Disorientation on-line: There are virtually no rules in cyberspace, 
and anyone with the right gadget can post anything online, without 
the rigour of confirming its veracity. This causes confusion that can 
affect the Seminarian, should he frequent misleading websites. 

4. Pornography: The possession of a smartphone will accentuate the 
temptation to view pornography on-line.  

5. Anti-Social Behaviour: One of the features of social networks is the 
increase in harassment, threats, hate speech, and similar illegal, 
immoral or inflammatory behaviour. When the seminarian has a 
smartphone, he may be more prone to carrying out such actions.  

6. Effects of Virtual Reality: Studies have shown that increased 
exposure to the internet increases the risk of internet addiction 
disorder35. In addition, the longer the time spent in the virtual world, 
the less attention that is given to real life issues. These can affect a 
seminarian in possession of a smartphone.  

7. Financial fraud of any sort, et cetera, can be carried out via the 
smartphone with ease.  

These issues can pose real threats to priestly formation, and it is 
understandable that in order to prevent them, many seminaries in 
Nigeria, following the directives of their proprietors, enforce an outright 
ban on the use of personal phones and computers by seminarians in 
formation while in the Seminary. This ban has been in force for quite a few 
years now. But should the presence of such dangers justify the 
continuance of this ban, given the possible benefits that are lost in the 
process?  
 

Conclusion: The Baby or the Bath Water?  
As far the means of communications are concerned, it is fair to say that as 
a Church, we have always displayed an attitude of suspicion, due to fear 
of its negative effects. It suffices to examine the tone of the first few 
magisterial documents on the means of communication to appreciate this 



500 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

point. At the same time, this attitude is not as dominant as it once was, as 
more study of communications as a reality has helped the cultivation of a 
corresponding attitude of critical understanding, in order to make the 
best use of these gifts from God. But the suspicion is yet to fully go away, and 
often exists side by side with efforts to maximize our understanding and 
use of the means of communication, to the extent of even vitiating 
initiatives that promote the latter. But we do not need to throw away the 
baby with the dirty bath water.  

We are of the opinion that it is better to return to the inspiration 
behind the publication of the 1986 Guide in this question of the means of 
communication. The idea of that document was that  
…social communications training … which is specifically pastoral, is to 
be given to all students without distinction during their philosophy and 
theology courses. It has three aims: 
a)  To train those concerned in the correct use of the instruments of 

social communication (and in general, of every technique of 
expression and communication) in their pastoral activities, when 
the circumstances permit it;  

b)  To train them to be masters and guides of others (receivers in 
general, educators, all those who work in the mass media) through 
instruction, catechesis, preaching, etc., and as consultants, 
confessors, spiritual directors; 

c)  Above all, to get them into a state of mind in which they will be 
permanently ready to make the necessary adjustments in their 
pastoral activity, including those demanded by the inculturation 
of the Christian faith and life in the different particular 
churches, in a world psychologically and socially conditioned by 
the mass media and even already by telematics and informatics.36 
Consequently, it will be better on the short and long run, to 

expose seminarians in formation to more means of communications 
rather than less. We are in a situation where the Authorities have to 
consider providing Seminary Formators with the necessary wherewithal 
to be able to effectively mentor and journey with their students, as 
regards proper, responsible use of the means of communication, 
especially the smartphone. It will not be easy to correct them when they 
misuse the smartphone or personal computers, if these are not 
mainstreamed into the regular seminary curriculum. At any rate, that 
seminarians do not have smartphones in the seminary does not mean that 
they do not have smartphones outside the seminary, which they use 
during vacation. Is that period not part of their formation for the 
priesthood?  

Similarly, and in the light of what has been said above, there is 
the need to have experts in Communications Science among the 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    501 

 

seminary staff, who will be responsible for teaching communication 
courses that span through the entire duration of the formation of the 
future priest. What we now have in the seminaries under consideration 
in this paper, are seminar courses on aspects of Communications located 
either at the final year of the formation program, or carried out during 
inter-semester breaks. These are better than nothing, but still far from 
the desired point, if the 1986 Guide is taken into proper consideration. 
The presence of such an expert will reasonably guarantee that the 
Seminarians understand from the outset, how they are to use the means 
of communications, and transform them from possible distractions to 
critical aids to their integral formation, and future priestly life.  

Additionally, we humbly state that there is a flaw in the 
reasoning that the ban on smartphone usage in the Seminary helps the 
candidate avoid the dangers associated with it. It only postpones the 
proverbial evil day, as instead of making ‘low profile’ errors, while in 
formation, with the possibility of correction, we will expose ourselves to 
the possibility of high profile ‘gaffes’ being committed by the same 
person, with the difference being that he is now a priest, and 
unfortunately, may not be as eager to accept that sort of correction. And 
as for teaching the lay faithful how best to use the means of 
communication, it will be a case of nemo dat quod non habet37.  

Therefore, in the question of Seminary Formation and Modern 
Means of Communications, the possibilities in permitting full exposure 
to these communication tools significantly outweigh whatever benefits 
that would come from shielding those in formation from these tools, in 
the light of the present digital epoch.    

 
 
Endnote 
                                                      
1 Congregation for Catholic Education, (1986) Guide To The Training Of Future 

Priests Concerning The Instruments Of Social Communication, Presentation, 

accessed from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/docu 

ments/rc_pc_pccs_doc_19031986_guide-for-future-priests_en.html (Retrieved 

March 05, 2020) 
2 Ibid, No 4 
3 "Seminary Education ." New Catholic Encyclopedia . (Retrieved March 04, 2020 

from Encyclopedia.com) 
4 Ibid 
5 Decree on Priestly Training Optatam Totius, (October 28, 1965) in Flannery, A. (ed) 

(1995). Vatican Council II: The Concilliar and Post Concilliar Documents, Bombay, St. 

Pauls’ No.4 
6 Ibid,  N.19  



502 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

                                                                                                                         
7 See http://www.synod.va/content/synod/en/synodal_assemblies/1990-eighth-

ordinary-general-assembly--the-formation-of-priests-.html 
8 John Paul II, Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, (March 15, 

1992) No 3. Retrieved March 05, 2020 from www.vatican.va.  
9 Ibid, No. 42 
10 Ibid, No. 5 
11 For instance, the revised Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, authored by 

the Congregation for the Clergy, (No. 35) we read “Priests, who are configured to Christ, 

Head and Shepherd, Servant and Spouse, participate in His one priesthood and saving 

mission as co-workers with the Bishops. In this way they are visible signs of the merciful 

love of the Father in the Church and in the world. These characteristics of the person of 

Christ help us to understand better the ministerial priesthood in the Church. Under the 

guidance of the Holy Spirit, they inspire and guide the formation of seminarians so that 

they can be conformed to Christ by their immersion in the mystery of the Trinity”  
12 See https://www.etymonline.com/word/communication (Retrieved February 24, 

2020).  
13 Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Communication. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. 

(Retrieved March 06, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ 

communication) 
14 Congregation for the Clergy (2016) The Gift of the Priestly Vocation Ratio 

Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, Vatican City, L’Osservatore Romano, No 93.  
15 Ibid, No. 97 
16 Cambridge. (n.d). Communication. In Dictionary.Cambridge.org. (Retrieved March 

03, 2020 from  

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/communication).  
17 We have deliberated left out the internet or the worldwide web, from this list of 

the means of communication, because of its unique characteristics. In the words of 

M. A. Dennis & R. Kahn, the internet is “a system architecture that has 

revolutionized communications and methods of commerce by allowing 

various computer networks around the world to interconnect. Sometimes referred 

to as a “network of networks,” …the Internet provides a capability so powerful and 

general that it can be used for almost any purpose that depends on information, 

and it is accessible by every individual who connects to one of 

its constituent networks”. See Brittannica.com 
18 For a detailed treatment of these different epochs, see Gronowski, Dariusz (2007) 

Teoria Generale Della Comunicazione, Roma, EDUSC, (Dispense per uso degli 

studenti) pp 89-126.  
19 Gronowski, Ibid, p. 121  
20 Cambridge. (n.d). Smartphone. In Dictionary.Cambridge.org. (Retrieved March 04, 

2020 from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/communication). 
21 The internet of things is a proposed development of the internet in which many 

everyday objects are embedded with microchips giving them network connectivity, 

allowing them to send and receive data. See "internet, n.". OED Online. March 2020. 

Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/248411 

(Retrieved March 06, 2020).  



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    503 

 

                                                                                                                         
22 Lenovo. What is a Smartphone. (Retrieved 2020, Feb 24 from https://www.len 

ovo.com/gb/en/faqs/pc-life-faqs/what-is-a-smartphone/) 
23 Benedict XVI, “The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at 

the Service of the Word” message on the 44th World Day of Communications, 24 

January, 2010, http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedictxvi/en/messages/communicati 

ons/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day.html 

(Retrieved February 27, 2020)  (emphasis mine).  
24 Congregation for the Clergy, ibid, No. 99 
25 Digital Native is a term used to describe a person who has grown up in 

the digital age, and is used to digital systems as a result. It is used to contrast 

Digital Immigrants, who had to acquire familiarity with digital systems as an adult.   
26 Congregation for the Clergy, ibid, No. 100 
27 Ibid, No. 116 
28 According to available statistics, the world population as at December 2019 was 

estimated at 7,796,615,710, with 4,574,150,134 having access to the internet. 

https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm   (Retrieved March 02, 2020).  
29 This has been the subjects of many academic papers and newspaper articles, but 

we will just refer the reader to one; Twenge, J. M., Martin, G. N., & Spitzberg, B. H. 

(2019). Trends in U.S. Adolescents’ media use, 1976–2016: The rise of digital media, 

the decline of TV, and the (near) demise of print. Psychology of Popular Media 

Culture, 8(4), 329–345. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000203 
30 Pope Benedict XVI, Ibid. 
31 Anticipatory Socialization “involves the informal adoption of norms or behaviour 

appropriate to a status not yet achieved by the individuals concerned, so providing 

them with experience of a role they have yet to assume. For example, children may 

anticipate parenthood by observing their parents as role models, and the careerist 

may anticipate promotion by emulating the occupational behaviour of his or her 

superiors”. (See "anticipatory socialization." A Dictionary of Sociology. . (Retrieved 

March 05, 2020 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-

sciences/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/anticipatory-

socialization) 
32 Congregation for the Clergy, ibid, No. 98 
33 Ibid, No. 99 
34 See https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2015/03/19 (Retrieved March 06, 2020) 
35 Internet Addiction Disorder has been defined as “a maladaptive patter of internet 

use, characterized by psychological dependence, withdrawal symptoms when 

offline for prolonged periods, loss of control, compulsive behavior, and clinically 

significant impairment of normal social interactions or distress” (See Internet 

addiction. (n.d.) Segen's Medical Dictionary. (2011). Retrieved March 6 2020 

from https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Internet+addiction) 
36 Congregation for Catholic Education, ibid, No. 30 
37 This Latin saying means “You cannot give what you do not have”.