Ongoing Clergy Formation
Formation can be defined as a sustained interpersonal encounter with Jesus Christ which is transformative and life-giving. The work of formation is to provide the people, occasions, and environments in which the interpersonal encounter with Jesus can more easily and fruitfully occur. Formation is an ongoing, integrated process of constant growth. Training, education and formation are related concepts; training focuses on becoming competent in specific skills and tasks, while Education develops a breath of knowledge and understanding. Formation may include both, but has the overall aim of moulding minds and hearts to create disciples and followers of Jesus. Clergy formation has four integrated and interrelated dimensions.
Human
The necessary foundation for all formation, the priest or deacon moulds his personality so that it becomes a bridge rather than an obstacle for others in encountering Jesus. This includes physical, psychological, moral, social, and recreational aspects. “The priest… should seek to reflect in himself, as far as possible, the human perfection which shines forth in the incarnate Son of God.” (St John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis 43)
Spiritual
Growing in our personal relationship with the Lord through engagement with: scripture, the Eucharist, the Liturgy of the Hours, prayer, retreats, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, spiritual direction, obedience, chastity and celibacy, poverty, devotion to Our Lady and the saints, seeking Christ in others, silence and solitude, radical self-giving, and identification with Christ Crucified.
Intellectual
Coming to know Jesus personally, as well as knowing facts about Him. This includes private reading and study, but also coming together for conferences, discussions and conversations in large and small groups, formal in informal. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped…” (Phil 2:5-6)
Pastoral
Preparing and supporting clergy to have a suitable awareness of the nature and mission of ministerial priesthood and diaconate, and to have a developed understanding, aided by experience and reflection, of a variety of forms of ministry.
