Making Disciples by Walking Together: Seminary Formation Towards a Synodal Church

Abstract

The much wanted pastoral and missionary conversion of the Church, as exhorted by Pope Francis, shall prove itself impossible unless priests and bishops become more synodal in their life and ministry. Towards that larger goal this paper proposes a few suggestions to make priestly formation more synodal in spirit and content. First, true to the spirit of synodality, seminarians need to be trained to walk together with all others in the faith community. In the current format of formation, seminarians often are trained to walk ahead of others in leadership roles. Second, make seminarians aware of the risks of clericalism. Clericalism refers to the priests’ relatively unbridled administrative power in the Church as if it is a personal entitlement. Third, form Seminarians towards servant leadership. Over against, many unbiblical models of leadership prevailing in the Church, servant leadership will help priests exercise their ministry in a participatory way. Fourth, promote spirituality based on imitation of Jesus Christ. Spiritual life devoid of personal relationship with Christ will breed careerism and opportunism. Fifth, formators have to walk on the synodal path. Formators need to prove that formation is essentially accompaniment, not just monitoring. Sixth, train seminarians in synodal soft skills. They need practice in sharing of powers, consensus building, differing from others in respectful ways, working under lay leadership when required, negotiation competence, flexibility, higher emotional intelligence, etc. Seventh, theological formation must be appropriate to synodality. Finally, seminarians have to learn to deal with the internal forum in synodal spirit. This paper concludes affirming that synodality is an essential virtue of priests.