Facing The Present and Future Chanllenges in Priestly Formation

FACING THE PRESENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES IN PRIESTLY FORMATION by Fr. Sebastian Francis How shall we prepare for the future? Fr. Sebastian Francis, drawing from his knowledge and experience as a Dogmatic Theology Lecturer and a Spiritual Director for the past 10 years, believes that the challenge in priestly formation lies in guiding the seminarian in an on-going theological reflection in his quest for meaning and truth which will lead him to a transformation in faith. INTRODUCTION I would like to focus my reflections on two areas of formation - the theological and spiritual. With the present emphasis on the identity of the priest as foundational to his ministry, I believe the identity is shaped by his theological and spiritual formation in very specific ways. The consequences for his pastoral ministry and insertion into a living community where he plays the role of animator and unifier is obvious. The search for meaning and truth, both human and divine is surely one of the primary motives of a seminarian. The faith dimension of a vocation is kept very much alive in this relentless search for God, the God of Truth. Pope John Paul II's apostolic exhortation on the formation of priests, Pastores Dabo Vobis, places transformation in faith within the context of theological formation, as faith always incorporates a cognitive element - cf. PDV n.53 & 54. This is very exciting for me as a teacher of the faith as I see the seminarians grow in their understanding of faith, expanding their vision of God, the world and themselves. THEOLOGY As much as theology is faith seeking understanding, this enterprise cannot take place in a vacuum, as this faith is incarnated in human experience, in history and in culture. The seminarian is trained to familiarise himself with questions about God and how God communicates. He must be at ease with the various languages God speaks. He must be sensitive to detect the crucial moment for the occurrence of the divine-human encounter. Moving from meaning to the truth question he is able to make a commitment of his life based on the discovery of truth. I would like to expand the above into six approaches to the quest of the God of Truth. The essence of a vocation is to be true to oneself by being true to the God one discovers in the encounter. MODEL 1 - DOCTRINAL TRUTH The search for truth here is the creedal or propositional truths drawn from the rich traditions and dogmas of the past and present. The crucial moment for the occurrence of God is the clear propositional statements on matters pertaining to faith and morals. The need to cultivate a conscience that is clear, free and responsible is indispensable. God communicates as an infallible teacher who communicates authoritative teaching in the form of propositions to a recipient who is expected to be attentive and docile. The language in which God communicates is doctrinal. MODEL 2 - HISTORICAL TRUTH Thanks to Vatican II and the massive return of Catholic theology to the Scriptures as the soul of all speculation, the vision of God and his communication has expanded to include many other languages. The language of history has entered the world of theology and is asking if God is a transcendent agent who communicates by means of historical events to a community of faith which must discern and interpret the signs given. The crucial moment for the occurrence of the revelation of God is his great and small acts in history then and today. It may often be easier to discern and interpret the scriptural past as the issues may be more academic and we may only be distant observers. To do likewise in the events of history where we are no longer admirers or observers but active participants is probably more crucial and controversial. The truth that one tries to grasp in an intellectually honest manner is the historical truth. Here belongs the relentless quest for the historical Jesus, so as to get to the originality of the message as is humanly possible and also here lies the quest for the God of history as God continues to speak the same language of revelation today. Some have even dared to suggest that the poor have a hermeneutical privilege in helping us to discern and interpret the signs given then and now. MODEL 3 - EXPERIENTIAL TRUTH A new and exciting language that has entered the theological scene and is widely spoken of and utilised today in a variety of ways is the language of Inner Experience. The truth one encounters has a very personal and experiential depth to it. It is the personal truth in the sense of direct experience whether immediate or mediated. The crucial moment for the occurrence of the God of revelation is the privileged interior experience of grace. These experiences can be brought to the living community with its scriptures and traditions to be evaluated and refined. The language of inner experience seeks God who is the divine guest of the soul, who communicates by means of an immediate interior experience of his presence to a recipient who must be prayerfully open. This revolution of Copernican magnitude in theology with its shift of emphasis from authority to experience has rocked the boat and needs to be attended to systematically in theology. An inability to grasp this reality and harmonise it within the mainstream of the Church can be negative. But it has brought theology from its ivory towers to the marketplace, where the Spirit moves freely and God reveals himself to whomsoever God wishes. It has enlivened the world of spiritual direction as recipients speak about themselves and their personal experiences when seeking direction. It has brought the language of grace where God dwells within the human subject and the language of revelation where God reveals himself and his truths to the human subject into closer inter-relatedness. MODEL 4 - TRANSCENDENT TRUTH In the language of dialectical presence God reveals himself as a compassionate judge who communicates by means of a powerful, transforming word (proclamation) to recipients who must be obediently submissive in faith. The crucial moment for the occurrence of revelation is the proclamation of the transcendent word which has the quality of both revealing and concealing, thus creating in us a thirst for more. The truth that confronts us is the transcendent truth in the concrete circumstances of our life. The word of God functions in this way in the lives of many individual Catholics and communities today. MODEL 5 - IMMANENT TRUTH From the introduction of experience in the search for God and the constant search for the religious dimension within human experience comes an offshoot which is the language of New Awareness. Here God reveals himself as a lure to the human imagination and communicates by means of breakthroughs in human consciousness to recipients who dare to dream new dreams and build a fully human world. All the human faculties including the world of dreams, visions, fantasies and the unconscious are potentially means for God to reveal and manifest himself to one who dares to dream of this new and humane world. The crucial moment for the occurrence of revelation is the expansion of human consciousness and the truth that emerges is the Immanent Truth. MODEL 6 - SYMBOLIC TRUTH Another off-shoot of the experiential approach to theology is the return to the language of symbol, metaphor, parable and story. Theology here becomes the sustained reflection of the theologian on the way in which men and women react to and appropriate the story of Jesus into their own stories. God is disclosed as present and redemptive in the very talking itself of the greatest story ever told, the never ending story. The theology of story is the theology about the human and divine subjects who speak, tell stories, eat meals and relate to one another through the ceaseless babble and chatter which goes on to make up the world we live. The original stories always revolve around Israel who symbolises Yahweh who is the God of our fathers who saves his people. It is the story of Jesus who symbolises the kingdom, who is a prodigal father who embraces His son. It is the story of the Church who symbolises Jesus, who is the beloved son who dies with a loud cry and was resurrected by the father. In this orientation, story is the primary language, thanks to the re-discovery of Jesus who is the story teller par excellence who teaches in parables. Definitions tend to be abstract, deductive and propositional. Descriptions are more historical and experiential. Both are secondary language, subordinate to the primary language but are indispensable. The truth that one encounters is the symbolic truth which never runs dry but provokes one to enter deeper into the mystery of truth. So the quest and search for the God of Truth and the discovery of self and the other are intricately and intimately intertwined. The seminarian tries to expand his vision by learning the various languages that God uses to communicate to human subjects, so he can help himself and others to discern the promptings of the spirit in seeking the will of God as Jesus did. SPIRITUALITY I have provided a broad theological outlook that will usher us into the present and future. Now I would like to draw some conclusions for spirituality based on the images of God that are emerging in Catholic theologies. They are experiential and open to dialogue with Catholic Tradition. A healthy co-relation between experience and tradition is vital as a foundation for emerging spiritualities. A seminarian seeking the direction of the spirit today is gradually introduced into the human aspects of his life and formation. These include whatever he has experienced in the area of self-acceptance, affective maturity in relationships and sexuality, and his personal responsibility and freedom. Knowing the truth of oneself and accepting it is to lead ultimately to a process of self-integration. This grounds the caption of Pope John Paul II, that all formation is ultimately self-formation. The integration of psychology and spirituality in recent years has provided a tremendous boost to this area of human formation. In some ways, it reinforces St. Thomas Aquinas' caption that grace builds upon nature ( - although some transcendental Thomists have even suggested that grace builds into nature). This human level which some refer as humanistic counselling is only a preparation for the next step in the direction of the spirit which is healing. Spiritual formation and direction is sensitive of the failures, weaknesses, and sinful tendencies in the seminarian and after a process of self-acceptance, brings these areas into the open forum of faith and prayer seeking understanding, further acceptance of the reality of one's life in faith and seeking the healing and transformation which the spirit wants to offer and acceptance of whatever weaknesses the spirit wants to retain for our continued growth in the ways of Christ. This second phase in the ways of the spirit prepares for the third which is a more intense phase in the discernment of one's identity and mission. As I mentioned in the beginning, today there is a greater emphasis on priestly identity as foundational to mission and ministry, which in turn reinforces the identity. Here the seminarian is open to discover his specific calling to the secular priesthood and his identification with the ministerial priesthood of Christ. All his formation in the human, spiritual, intellectual and community phases of formation have their finality in the pastoral dimension of formation, where he will more concretely discover his specific calling to the priestly life and ministry. He will have to discover the charisms that are specific to this calling and make a decision to offer his life and services to the church. The church will discern and confirm his call to the priesthood and confer the sacramental character of the priesthood on him. CONCLUSION In conclusion, a vocation that has a religious flavor to it cannot be sustained without an on-going theological reflection which nurtures it and leads it to a transformation in faith. It also needs a constant spiritual input in following the promptings of the spirit. In moving through the three phases of human self-acceptance to spiritual healing of the self and to self-transcendence in discovering and accepting his identity and mission, the seminarian must recognise all this as coming from God, in Christ Jesus and confirmed by the church.

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