The Challenges of Priestly Formation in the Contemporary….      171 

 

 

 

C H A P T E R  1 1  
 

 
 

The Challenges of Priestly Formation in 

the Contemporary Changing Society 
 

Michael Bunmi OLOFINLADE 

 

 

 

Introduction 

To respond to the expectations of modern society and co-operate in 

the vast evangelizing action that involves all Christians, we need 

well-trained and courageous priests who are free from ambition and 

fear but convinced of the Gospel Truth, whose chief concern is to 

proclaim Christ and who are prepared to stoop down to suffering 

humanity in his Name, enabling everyone, particularly the poor and 

all who are in difficulty, to experience the comfort of God’s love and 
warmth of the ecclesial family1 

This thought of Benedict XVI is adequate to describe the 

thrust of my reflection which could be understood in line with the 

formation of candidates for the priesthood in the contemporary world, 

particularly, in Nigeria. The words, ‘proper’ and ‘adequate’ training 

of the catholic priest are key concerns that are dear to the Fathers of 

the Church ‘ab initio’ till today. This concern is premised on the 

understanding that the world is a changing place and each era and 

time has its challenges, and so, formation at any point in time must be 

'proper' and 'adequate'. Against this backdrop, diverse formative 

processes are being employed in the training of priests. The 

formation, therefore, must be dynamic and never static or stereotype. 

Priests, therefore, must adapt themselves in a positive way to the 

society and preserve an integrity corresponding to their call and 

vocation. Thus, the priest of our contemporary society has a lot of 



172     Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

moral demands, granted the fast-changing society that we live in. The 

stakes of formation invariably, therefore, can only become higher.  

The thrust of this essay is to reflect on the challenges of the 

formation of priests in order to contribute to the sustainability of 

priest in addressing issues of this changing society. This is relevant 

because of the adage that says, (nemo dat quod non habet) "you 

cannot give what you do not possess".  Invariably, the question is how 

would priests be adequately relevant in a world of constant change? It 

is crystal clear that society is undergoing changes through science and 

technological developments. This development has continued to 

revolutionalize life in its entirety including pastoral and spiritual life 

of the faithful. The socio-cultural and ethical issues are taking a new 

trend,  more and more, traditional values are being contested in the 

light of new developments and some long-established pastoral 

principles are gradually being seen as out-modelled. The priest in the 

face of this is meant to evolve new pathways to resolving the 

challenges to the signs of modern times. The inability for priests to 

live above the moral bar and demands of society poses some 

questions on the quality of formation he has received.  

 

The Priest, Dilemma of a Contemporary Age and Change 

The priest of today is a product of his age. The contemporary world 

has become more critical of religious values and principles. There is a 

rise in secularism and relativism. These twin ideologies have posed 

more threats to the continued relevance of priest in society. Hitherto, 

the priest enjoyed high-level clericalism and elitism in society. This 

can be argued to be the spin-off of the ecclesiastical hegemony and 

religious dominance from the middle ages. While its effects had 

whittled down in some parts of the world particularly in Europe and 

America, in Africa and in Nigeria, the Priest still enjoys a pride of 

place. Nevertheless, the whirlwind of secularism and relativism is fast 

thickening that, the priest's moral authority no longer rests on the 

institution of the Church alone, but, that he needs to justify the 

institution and call he professes by his way of life and pastoral roles. 

The society is fast changing with the signs of modern times, the priest 

also is expected to advance new, positive and viable methods in 

dealing with issues within his ambience. The basic concern is how the 

priest can know, evaluate understand and manage pastoral challenges 

evolving as a result of the change in the society. In fact, the long-



 The Challenges of Priestly Formation in the Contemporary….      173 

standing docile and loyal attitudes of the faithful are increasingly 

dissolving by the day. It is a truism that the priestly life demands 

honesty, integrity and heroic self-sacrifice but without proper 

discernment in the world of change, this might turn out to be a 

platonic adventure. Friedrick Nietzsche’s popular phrase that ‘religion 
makes people docile and timid in the face of suffering and 

oppression’ is no fast becoming untenable. 

 It is amazing that these challenges extend to the places where 

vocations to the priesthood are nurtured; the seminary and our 

parishes. Based on this reality, the Church is struggling to deal with 

the increasing rate of change and expectation of the priestly ministry. 

In the words of Benedict XV1, “how much filth there is in the 

Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to 

belong entirely to him!”2 The situation of paradox raises the question 

of the authenticity of priestly formation in the light of today's 

changing society. This becomes paramount because a most important 

and increasingly difficult role is being assigned to priests in the 

renewal of Christ’s church in this temporary changing society.3 This 

concern for renewal is an age-long desire clearly enounced by the 

Second Vatican Council Fathers. It states: 

The holy council is fully aware that the desired 

renewal of the whole church depends to a great extent 

on a priestly ministry animated by the spirit of Christ. 

It proclaims the supreme importance of priestly 

formation and affirms some of its primary principles 

whereby laws tested by the experience of centuries are 

confirmed and new elements are introduced to 

correspond with the constitutions and decrees of this 

council and with the changed conditions of our time.4 

 

We shall try to expound what constitutes the Catholic priestly 

formation as a background to know whether it is proper, adequate and 

sustainable for the priests to face the challenges of this modern 

society. The ideological thought of, Joseph Komonchak, come into a 

play in this context.  

The Church is a social and historical reality, so it is 

essential to a systematic understanding of the Church 

to employ tools developed for a systematic 

understanding of social and historical realities. How 



174     Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

can one work out a systematic ecclesiology without 

working out first such terms as ‘individual’ 
‘community’ society,’ meaning,’ ‘change,’ structure,’ 
‘institution,’ ‘relationship,’ and so on, and the various 
relationships, that can obtain among these terms?5 

 

To further understand the concerns of this paper, it suffices to 

examine the concept of change in contemporary society in relation to 

the Catholic Church. 

Change as a concept is discussed at different levels in various 

fields of study due to the fact that nearly everything in existence 

passes through a process of change. It is on this note that this concept 

of change is interpreted in different ways but we shall limit the usage 

in this essay to its description as per its verb which is understood as, 

‘to make’ or ‘become different’ or ‘alter’. This change might affect 
either external features or internal features of a being, or it could 

affect both the internal and the external of a being concurrently. 

Heraclitus6 describes the cosmos as being in a state of constant flux 

(state of becoming).7 Everything is constantly changing and becoming 

other things to what it was prior to that state. This is objective 

philosophical knowledge of the world, which is in consonance with 

the scientific description of the physical and human realities. The 

priest being part of nature, reacts and responds to its natural changing 

environment.  

Mirroring this from the context of incredibly challenging 

issues in the Church, there is a need for skilled and well-formed and 

informed priests to carry out the mission of the Church. Perhaps, this 

was the vision of the Fathers of the Church who searched for an 

ecclesiology that would explain issues affecting human existence. So, 

the impulse to work out a systematic ecclesiology demands an 

understanding of the social and historical realities within and around 

the Church. This is where the formation of priests must involve a 

curriculum in ecclesiology that takes to mind these demands and 

contexts. Therefore, if priests must be people who are properly and 

adequately equipped and formed to minister in a changing society, his 

formative discipline must be accommodating of these demands. The 

Fathers of the Church aver in this light, that formative discipline 

should include psychology, sociology and pedagogy.8 This 

understanding opens us to look at priestly formation succinctly. 



 The Challenges of Priestly Formation in the Contemporary….      175 

Priestly Formation and Ecclesiastical Studies 

The Second Vatican Council decree on the training of priests gives 

insight into the nature of formation put in place for every Catholic 

priest to function adequately in every given circumstance. He is 

prepared by the seminary to act and take proper steps and decision in 

whatever contexts he finds himself.9 The document, Optatam Totius 

explains that a comprehensive priestly formation concerns human, 

intellectual, spiritual, pastoral formations which revolve around the 

character, moral, physical and psychological formations.10 This 

formation begins in an embryonic state in the minor seminary with 

the focus on educational, religious and spiritual formations which 

should methodically and consistently co-ordinate all pastoral action 

for fostering vocations, and promote it with both discretion and zeal, 

not neglecting whatever suitable help may be found in the insights of 

modern psychology and sociology.11 Inculcating inter-disciplinary 

values are taken seriously in the formation of priests because he lives 

and functions in human society. “Priestly formation, by reason of the 

very unity of the Catholic priesthood, is necessary for all priests, 

diocesan and religious of whatever rite.”12 It is instructive to know 

that programme of priestly formation shall be established by the 

Episcopal Conference, to be reviewed at suitable intervals and 

approved by the Holy See, so that the general rules may be adapted to 

the special circumstances of time and place, and the formation of 

priests will always be in keeping with the pastoral needs of the areas 

in which they minister.13  

The fundamental formation begins in the major seminary after 

completion of the studies in courses in science and humanities which 

prepare every student of each country for a higher study. In the 

ecclesiastical studies, philosophy and theology are primary because 

they open and mould the minds of the students more and more to the 

mystery of Christ, which touches the whole of human history and 

continuously influences the Church, and is at work particularly in 

priestly ministry.14 The courses of formation make life in the parish in 

conjunction with evolving challenges less cumbersome in the light of 

the formation given to priests through these courses. Philosophy 

transforms the whole process of intellectual discernment of every 

priest as he embarks on his daily activities.  

Philosophy leads students to a solid and coherent knowledge 

of human nature, the world and God.15 Modern philosophical 



176     Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

developments and sciences help them to dialogue with people of their 

time and to equip them to grasp the basic principles of the various 

systems, hold fast to elements proved to be true and recognize and 

refute the roots of error.16 The decree continues that the actual 

teaching should arouse in the students a love of rigorous 

investigation, observation and demonstration of truth, together with 

an honest awareness of the limits of human knowledge. Careful 

attention should be paid to the close connection between philosophy 

and the real problems of life as well as to the questions which engage 

the minds of the students/priests.17  

In the same context, theology helps students to draw Catholic 

teaching from divine revelation, enter deeply into its meaning, use it 

to nourish their spiritual lives and be able to proclaim, explain and 

defend it in their priestly ministry.18 Basically, philosophical and 

theological formations provide candidates for the priesthood with the 

nourishments to translate challenges of life to progress. Aside, prolific 

scientific training in sacred sciences and other appropriate subjects 

are necessary to enhance their apostolate in the changing and current 

society are recommended in the formative years and even after 

ordination. The exercise of this formation becomes mandatorily as 

each priest is required to go through practical experiences in the 

parishes and ecclesiastical institutes under thorough supervision 

without neglecting the use of their personal initiative in carrying out 

their assigned tasks. Thus, they should be initiated into pastoral 

practice by appropriate experiences.19 Finally, ongoing formation is 

emphasized because of the daily demands of priestly life that continue 

to evolve in the trends in society. 

It is evidently clear that sustainable formation, personal self-

organizing and learning systems are provided for candidates for the 

priesthood. However, certain elements come into play in this 

provision in order to bring about positive management of parish daily 

changing realities. The consideration of nature and nurture is of 

utmost relevance because personal organization and development 

play prominence in the handling of the realities of pastoral life. The 

degree of an interactive dialogue between a person and its 

environment determines the richness of the responses given to the 

challenges of life in the priestly ministry. The predisposition of the 

brain to his environment determines the level of development of 

human society. Be it as it may, environmental influences are keys to 



 The Challenges of Priestly Formation in the Contemporary….      177 

human living and development but human development and maturity 

over-rides all factors.  

 

Challenges of Authenticity for Priestly Formation 

The 21st century can be regarded as the dawn of the new age which 

has witnessed new descriptions and definitions of life in many ways 

different from traditional and orthodoxy understandings. These are 

expressed in the forms of new doctrines, morality, ethics and values. 

Precisely, we are experiencing new psychology, sociology and 

pedagogy and these are rooted in the new visions of secularity, an 

intricate ideology of human origin, existence and meaning, new 

crusades on freedom from religion, not freedom of religion.20 As it 

were, these new convoluted ways of seeing the world anew are being 

propagated by influential and wealthy personalities and institutions 

that allow a warm appeal to these doctrines and understandings. With 

such high-profile accent on these new doctrines, there is a towering 

attack on orthodoxy and traditional teachings of the Church. Such 

challenges have had a penetrating influence on priestly ministry. This 

leaves a major challenge to the vocation. Arguably, there is the 

conflict of seeing the priestly ministry as a profession or occupation 

rather than a vocation. In the exercise of the priestly ministry today, 

some trends leave a lot of people to question the authenticity of their 

vocation, or at least, the authenticity of their priestly formation. Some 

of these trends are highly opposed to what constitute the tenets, the 

doctrines and the teachings of the Church, especially, in the areas of 

worship, ethics and morality concerning life, marriage, sex and 

gender. The new trends which raise the questions of authenticity of 

priestly vocation and formation are enormous that we cannot touch on 

all of them. Nevertheless, major concerns of these oscillate around the 

celebration of the Church's liturgy, preaching the word of God, living 

priestly life and the practice of true charity and love. 

 The Church in Africa, particularly, in Nigeria as a growing 

Church, is witnessing an increase in the number of vocations to the 

priesthood. This trend is termed ‘vocation boom’.21 Vocation boom 

poses a serious challenge to the formation of priests in many ways. 

This includes a shortage of infrastructure, personnel and pedagogical 

materials. The fear of this challenge was expressed in the year 1995 

by the then Archbishop of Ibadan Metropolis, Archbishop Felix A. 

Job, as Ubi multitudo, ibi peccati (there is danger in number). There 



178     Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

would indeed be a danger if, for instance, there are well over five 

hundred seminarians with only 15 formators. Apart from other 

infrastructural and provisional constraints, there would be a lack of a 

personal touch in formation with the seminarians. There is a likely 

risk of having some people moving through the system anonymously.  

 This problem can be compounded by a situation of 

godfatherism. This expresses a situation where a seminarian is not 

fully disposed to the authentic, proper and adequate formation, 

knowing fully well that a priest/Bishop will advertently or 

inadvertently support him, no matter the case.22 Consequently, the 

student’s formation becomes distorted because he lives in deception 
both to the formation and his supporter. The students who suffer from 

such pitiable indisposition to formation and growth in their training, 

more often than not, end up becoming problems in the priesthood and 

the Church later.  

 We cannot but briefly express some worries on the seeds of 

relativism and materialism that are well seeded in our society. 

Relativism is a subjective way of approaching, viewing, analyzing, 

expressing, evaluating and judging things, including the human 

person. Socio-cultural relativism promotes evil personalizing or 

subjectivizing diverse cases of life because it proposes that each has 

its unique morality. Thus, each culture and person have texts which 

determine codes of moral behaviour for them. The case of objectivity 

or general acceptability of moral responsibility is squashed. This 

deceptive trend tends to promote materialism as the doctrine because 

of its subjective tendencies. These phenomena again raise questions 

and query the authenticity of priestly formation in contemporary 

society.      

 

Management of Challenges of Authenticity 

It is not possible to live without challenges affecting human existence 

and essence, but the mode of handling and managing them are 

prominently significant in life. The American Philosopher, Thomas 

Kuhn expresses similar thoughts, that, “Though history is unlikely to 

record their names, some men have undoubtedly been driven to desert 

science because of their inability to tolerate crisis. Like artists, 

creative scientists must occasionally be able to live in a world out of 

joint”.23 In this context, priests must learn to be positively creative in 

the face of a crisis in order to remain faithful to their life and ministry. 



 The Challenges of Priestly Formation in the Contemporary….      179 

Crises should not destroy them, rather should strengthen them. It is on 

this basis that adequate formation is expedient to prepare them for 

situations of such. To achieve this objective, the wisdom of the 

Fathers of the Church should unreservedly be implemented. 

Taking into account the candidate’s age and 
development, each candidate’s motivation should be 
tested, as should his freedom to choose. His spiritual, 

moral and intellectual stability should be examined, as 

should his physical and psychological health and any 

possible hereditary traits. The same goes for his ability 

to carry the burden of the priesthood and perform his 

pastoral duties.24  

  

It is in the light of this strict measure and precaution that the 

challenges in the priestly formation could be addressed in a positive 

line. Since formation becomes indispensable in the life of a priest, I 

would suggest what psychologists refer to as self-organization and 

learning, which is an early learning process in animals is to be 

imbibed. Whatever is learnt at this point becomes a reference point 

for the animal. Thus, a priest should continuously refer to what was 

learnt at the formative stage of his priestly formation. The best-

explored examples of this type of learning have been studied in birds. 

“Young birds learn the songs of their parents, memorize the patterns 
of their plumage, and later select their mating partner accordingly.”25 

This is experience-dependent learning which could be of assistance in 

the formation of candidates for the priesthood. It is at this juncture, 

we would delve briefly into the subject of auto-formation.  

Auto-formation speaks volume on the personal responses of 

the candidate to the formation recommended and given by the 

ecclesiastical authority. The basic concerns would be: how is the 

candidate responding to formation? What is the level of the 

candidate’s response? These responses would determine the degree of 

development and maturity of each priest to be. Taking a leap from the 

learning-pattern of birds referred to in our earlier discussion, a 

candidate should be matured enough to learn and navigate his priestly 

life and ministry from the formation tools provided by the seminary.   

A constant review of learning could serve as a leverage for 

ameliorating the challenges to the authenticity of priestly formation. 



180     Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

This becomes essential because of the wind of change and 

development in the world.    

 

 Conclusion  

It is not an exaggerated claim that the Church provides ample and 

adequate materials for priestly formation but then, the situation in the 

Church in Nigeria leaves a lot for concern. It is on this note that those 

concerned with formation should pay adequate attention to those 

areas of challenges. Perhaps, a quota system should be applied to 

address the issue of over-population in seminary or for the 

recruitment of formators to enrich the system. In like manner, 

adequate material provisions should be provided for the training of 

seminarians. Furthermore, care must be taken in the selection of 

candidates to be sent to the seminaries as Formators. It should not just 

be on the basis of intellectual capability but also of personal 

disposition, having the grace to mentor, teach and being exemplary 

should be considered. It is essential to mention that instructive and 

deliberative statues must be created to review some of the present 

conditions of formation in the country today to meet with current 

challenges in society. This can only be a sustainable mechanism to 

address the challenges to the authenticity of priestly formation today. 

The positive resultant consequence is that it will create an avenue to 

preserve and sustain sensus ecclesiae in the area of priestly formation. 

Finally, a proper discernment is required for these steps to be 

accomplished in the Church.   

 

 

Endnotes 
                                                           
1 Benedict XV1, Priests of Jesus Christ, (Oxford: Family Publication, 2009) 
2 Benedict XV1, Light of the World, the Pope, the Church, and signs of the 

Times (A Conversation with Peter Seewald), San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 

2010, 34. 
3 Presbyterorum Ordinis, (Decree on the ministry and life of priests), 1. 
4 Flannery, A. the Basic Documents, Vatican Council II, Constitutions,Decrees, 

Declarations, Optatam Totius (Decree on the Training of Priests),  
5 Ormerod, N. J, (Schultenover, G. D.) Vatican 11, Did Anything Happen? 

(New-York: Continuum, 2008), 155. 
6 Heraclitus is of the Pythagorean or Italian School of Philosophy, 546. 



 The Challenges of Priestly Formation in the Contemporary….      181 

                                                                                                                                  
7 Composta, D. History of Ancient Philosophy.  Bangalore: Theological 

Publications in India, 1990., 33-44 
8 Optatam Totius, 1. 
9 Optatam Totius, 1 
10 The details of these formation are found in the booklet entitled, the Gift of the 

Priestly Vocation (Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis) published by 

the Congregation for the Clergy, 2016. 
11 Optatam Totius, 2. 
12 Optatam Totius, 2 
13 Optatam Totius, 1 
14 Optatam Totius, 13. 
15 Optatam Totius, 13. 
16 Optatam Totius, 13. 
17 Optatam Totius, 13. 
18 Optatam Totius, 13. 
19 Optatam Totius, 21. 
20 Kresta, A. Dangers to the Faith, Recognizing Catholicism’s 21st-Century 

opponents. Huntingon: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 2013, 13.   
21 Vocation boom is an unprecedented increase in the incoming number of 

applicant/candidates to the priesthood. It is opined by some individual that this 

stream of candidate is anchored on economic and developmental woes of the 

nations in Africa, which suggests a future slim in the flow of number.  
22 This becomes a major challenge as some candidates hid under the guidance of 

individual person to disguise as good candidates to the priesthood. Occasionally, 

things turn around to expose the deceptive traits of such characters.   
2323 Kuhn, T. S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd ed. (Chicago: The 

University of Chicago Press, 1996, 78-79.  
24 Optatam Totius, 6. 
25 Klivington, K. The Science of Mind. London: The MIT Press, 1989, 177.