FORMATION FOR MINISTRY IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD:

TOWARDS A HOLISTIC SEMINARY FORMATION IN NIGERIA

A paper presented by Sister Rose Uchem, mshr, to the National Association of

Catholic Theology Students (NACATHS) at the Spiritan International School of
Theology (SIST), Attakwu, Enugu, on March 9th, 2002.

I. INTRODUCTION:
It is a truism that the behaviour and performance of priests in general are an index
of the kind of seminary training they received. The present model of seminary formation,
which is our subject for today’s discussion, is informally assessed on the basis of the
products of the system. The biblical adage holds good here: “By their fruits you shall
know them” (Matthew 12: 33). As I try to engage my topic, “Formation for ministry in
the contemporary world: Towards a holistic seminary formation in Nigeria,” I grapple
with the question: What do the organizers of this seminar hope to achieve? Why is it
important to examine and discuss such an issue as seminary formation at this particular
time?” At any rate, the importance and relevance of this topic will gradually unfold in this
paper.
There are some key words for special consideration and these are: formation,
seminary, ministry, contemporary and world. Each of these words carries a world of
meaning. I will focus on the meaning of formation while the other key words will yield
their meaning as we go along.
By formation I mean, a process by which the persons in formation are helped to
be more aware of themselves as persons and to reflect on their daily experiences, so as to
choose consciously how to respond to life in a Christ-centered way and to grow out of
these experiences. It is, therefore, a process by which a person develops more fully into
an adult member of a human community. Thus the emphasis is on the words: process,
adult, human and community. A good example is the journey catechumenate, which
prepares adult candidates for Christian initiation into full membership of the Christian
community; likewise, the novitiate formation programme, which leads up to the induction

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of young religious women and men into membership of their respective religious
congregations.
In our particular context, our concern is with seminary formation, which
presupposes the sum total of all the processes that go into the making of future priests. It
goes without saying that these learning processes occur within and outside the confines of
the seminary walls. They include formal and informal teaching and learning situations,
through and sometimes without the instrumentality of the seminary staff. Properly
speaking, the Holy Spirit is the principal formator, the principal agent of formation. Next
in importance is the candidate, the principal beneficiary of the formation process. Then,
we have the seminary staff, who have been recently styled seminary formators and they
are facilitators of the formation process. I put formators last in the list because students
are the very reason why formators are there, in the first instance. Secondly, as human
beings, the ultimate choice belongs to the students as to what they want to do with all the
learning opportunities available to them. The students may choose to be open to be duly
formed and transformed or to be as resistant to formative influences as the back of a duck
is to water or the coco-yam to rainfall.
Consequently, my presentation will focus on the students’ perspectives. Not being
“of the system” myself, I spoke with several people in order to get the insiders’ views and
feelings about the subject. I also consulted Church documents and various literary
resources for vital information. Thus, to provide the backdrop for my proposals, I first
discuss the present model of seminary formation as well as the ministerial contexts in the
contemporary world and Church. Then, I propose an experiential and holistic model of
seminary formation, which is geared toward an integral human and spiritual formation
that is also pastoral in orientation. My approach in this paper is that of “Observe-Reflect-
and-Respond.”

II. THE PRESENT MODEL OF SEMINARY FORMATION: AN ANALYSIS

One of the blessings and prospects of the African Church is the vocation boom.
We are also blessed with the many theologians and experts emerging and available to
serve as seminary staff and formators. Most likely, we will continue getting priests in the
next foreseeable number of years. However, the question is: “What kind of priests will

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these teaming vocations bloom into? Will they be adequately formed in the basic human,
Christian and ministerial dispositions necessary to meet the challenges of the
contemporary world of the third millennium?” The following overview may throw some
light on these questions.

1. THE SEMINARY CONTEXT

I was reliably informed that:
There is not a single model of formation, as such, throughout the seminaries
– that while there are basic similarities in the seminary programme itself, there are
different approaches and different points of emphases in the various provincial
seminaries. This, in turn, is dictated by the needs of the different dioceses from
which seminarians come and as reflected in the expectations of various bishops
(Personal communication, February 2, 2002).
On the whole, if at all one must speak of a seminary formation model in Nigeria, one can
say that:
It is characterized by huge numbers of seminarians, a high intellectual and
academic content, a cerebral approach to learning; very little, if any, affective
human formation; a climate that favours hypocrisy; and a yawing gap between
formators and students (Personal communication, February 2, 2002).
I will comment on a few of these and some other observations.

a) Unwieldy numbers
Most of the seminaries have unwieldy numbers and it is hard even to imagine how
the students can possibly get the necessary personal, individual attention from formators
that is so vital for the formation process. Therefore, it is difficult to see how the term
formation can be applied in such cases. A few seminaries, though, are manageable in size,
and with some other desirable factors in place, one can even begin to speak more
correctly in terms of formation. In addition, there is a big social gap between formators
and students with the result that much of what is called formation is really regimentation
and drilling in the external trappings of Christian life, such: as much emphasis on
discipline, rules and regulations. It is not as if these are not important, but rather people

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are saying that it probably needs re-examination. I am also told that as a result of such a
climate, students have double faces and are not free to be themselves. That is to say, the
climate favours hypocrisy as a coping strategy for survival in the system.

b) A huge social distance

The social climate is said to be that of a huge social gap between formators and
students and between seminary life and the real life of the world out there. One gets the
impression that the students are living in a different world altogether. Consequently, they
tend to see themselves as a class of their own; a race apart; indeed, a different race of
privileged human beings altogether. The products of this system come out later into the
parishes with a similar mentality. This social gap easily degenerates into a superiority
complex; an attitude of looking down on people and always expecting to be served while
preaching humility and Christian service to others. It transfers, in turn, into real life
situations whereby there is a huge social distance between many of the clergy and the
laity in the parishes and also between the clergy and the religious. This sorry situation is
well divorced from Vatican II notion of the Church as people of God
Regarding the social distance between the pastors and their people, I think that it
is a colonial legacy. Social class stratification is something we inherited from the colonial
era and a scandal that we snuggly accommodate in our Christian psyche. One can easily
recall stories of the colonial days, when Africans were not invited nor allowed to enter the
house of Europeans, to sit down or to share table fellowship with them. The relationship
then was, and to some extent is still, that of patronage, and not mutuality, equality and
friendship. Our people imbibed this mentality of subordination of persons, especially
women, from Western cultural Christianity and complicated our own African cultural
ambience further. Yet, those from whom we learnt these haughty manners have started
changing and learning to move increasingly towards simplicity, equality and mutuality in
human relations. This is one of the challenges of the new evangelization in Africa that
needs to be addressed in the seminary programme.

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c) Relations with women
There are issues with celibacy and inter-gender relationships. Women are kept
away from most of our seminaries. Yet, in some parish houses, one sees young women in
and out of the house as cooks, cleaners, typists etc, all serving “Fada,” underscoring the
myth of the place of woman as having “to serve man”. In a similar vein, some bishops
and priests have been known to make public pronouncements to the effect that there
should be no woman in the sanctuary. Yet, women are left to do the Church laundry, the
dressing of the altar and the cleaning of the Church, including the sanctuary! Moreover,
the members of the Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) have been acclaimed as the
pillars of the Church for their moral, material and financial support of priests and
seminarians. Yet, they are often excluded from diocesan and parish appointments as
heads of committees and from policy-making and decision-making platforms except
minimal representation in some cases and in so far as they are needed for cooking and
serving functions. Sometimes, it is hard to reconcile these inconsistencies and
discrepancies in the whole issue.
One of the people I interviewed also expressed some grave concerns over the way
many clerics do not know how to relate to women basically as fellow human beings.
They despise women. Yet, at the slightest opportunity, they take advantage of them.
When we reflect that women make up the majority of the congregation in most parishes
across the world, we must begin to wonder. What is it in the seminary system itself that
inherently fosters anti-women attitudes in many clerics and how can it be corrected? To
what extent can we attribute the gross disrespect that many women, especially women
religious, suffer from many priests to the misogynist texts of the fathers of the Church?
How can the long-standing tension of human sexuality and compulsory priestly celibacy
be resolved with sensitivity and honest soul-searching in the seminary formation
programme?

d) Archaic structures of governance

Structures of governance both in seminaries and ministerial situations have not
kept pace with the current societal movement towards increasingly more democratic
structures. In spite of Vatican Council II’s new understanding of Church as people of

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God, Church leadership, administration and management continue to be seen as the
exclusive preserve of the ordained segment of the Church. In this way, the laity and the
religious become relativised, while archaic monarchical structures remain the operative
model of leadership – a far cry from the collaborative ministry implied in the model of
Church as family. African theologians are yet to assess the impact, psychological and
otherwise, of the foreign imposition of a medieval Western European monarchical
leadership style on the psyche of Africans, some of whom [for instance, the Igbos]
basically have an egalitarian structure of leadership. The monarchical posture of many of
the clergy, which actually goes contrary to Jesus’ egalitarian style of leadership, easily
translates into clerical triumphalism, arrogance and high-handedness with people, which
one of my informants termed clerical terrorism against people. More will be said about
this under ministerial context.

2. THE CONTENT
a) Overly intellectual and academic
As pointed out earlier, the present seminary formation programme lays a lot of
emphasis on content, which is highly intellectual and academic. From what I gathered,
there is very little, if any human and affective formation. Moreover, it seems to view
formation as the transmission of factual information and has not much room for the
engagement of feelings and the imagination. Besides, much of what is taught or learned is
not relevant to the students’ ministerial needs, present or future, nor pastoral needs
people. Consequently, after ordination, the priest carries the rational approach into parish
situations where the homilies are divorced from the reality of people’s concrete lives.
Thus, although much of our parish liturgies have been inculturated in terms of language,
songs and dance, the cerebral sermons largely remain in place.

b) Needing update and renewal

In addition, I understand that some of what is taught in some places is theology
and spirituality that have not seen the light of Vatican I, let alone Vatican II Council. They
repeat the formulas of yesteryears and therefore, fail to engage the issues of today. For
instance, they never bother with the challenge of hermeneutics brought on by new

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insights in the area of the interface between theology and science. Consequently, many of
us theologians carry on and speak as if there never was a Galileo nor a Copernicus and
refuse to incorporate the findings of modern science into our theologizing. We simply do
not grapple with the authentic moral implications of an evolutionary consciousness with
its changed cosmology.
Moreover, it is alleged that much of the content is:
What has been pre-cooked and pre-packaged in another context and expressed in
concepts that belong to another era, another people, answers to questions we have
not even formulated yet in our own context; while our own pressing questions are
rather neglected, evaded or reasoned away.
Furthermore, as Africans, we have a strong sense of the Sacred, of the Creator,
and of the spiritual world. We live in a cultural milieu in which people’s hunger and thirst
for God know no bounds. This has had its shadow side in the commercialization of the
sacred on the one hand, and manifestations of Catholic fundamentalism, on the other
hand. Some of these spiritualities emphasize a vertical relationship with God to the
exclusion or down-playing of the horizontal relationship with humans. Even though these
pockets of spiritualities are greatly in need of renewal, they vehemently resist change and
renewal (Uchem, 2001b, Enugu Synodal papers).

c) Needing social gospel consciousness

There is yet another angle. Our spirituality and theology do not actively
encourage actions for change and for social justice. Although much praying goes on in
our land, it is not linked to action. There is a great gap between our faith and our practice.
The other-worldly-centered kind of theology and spirituality consciously or
unconsciously undermines the will to address our present social ills. Consequently, the
forces of religion in our land have not yet been mobilized and harnessed to address the
social ills of our land and to effect transformation. Thus, religion becomes the opium that
lulls our people to fatalism and slumber. If this situation is to change, then the problem
must be confronted in the content of the seminary programme.

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3. THE METHODOLOGY
a) A cerebral and rational approach
In most cases, a cerebral methodology, which involves mostly use of the head is
employed. Since it engages only the head but not the heart as well, it cannot lead to
growth, personal conviction and conversion. The result is a limited or lack of
internalization of the values being inculcated into students through the seminary
programme.

b) Restriction on creative thinking

On the whole, the seminary programme is highly controlled. In some seminaries,
students and staff have more freedom of reflective and critical thinking while others are
very resistricted. They are simply expected to ingest and regurgitate the material they are
offered.

4. SOME COMMENTS
Having said all this with regard to the seminary context, content and
methodology, one must hasten to add that there are basic philosophical and theological
subjects, which must be studied. Therefore, it is good that they are in the seminary
programme. Perhaps, it is a question of exploring ways of coordinating the courses so as
to avoid undue duplication and overlapping (Good, 1983; 134-146) and to balance the
academics with other provisions that will be suggested shortly.
Furthermore, the fact that one finds some good and dedicated priests in different
parts of Nigeria who preach quite engaging sermons and lead exemplary lives is
indicative that they must have learnt some thing good in the seminary. They must have
opened themselves to formative influences and are, indeed, a credit to the present model
of formation.
The trouble, however, with many others is that as soon as they pass the academic
rigors of the seminary and arrive in their long awaited kingdom, they abandon that solid
academic philosophical and theological knowledge they had seemingly acquired. There is
not much evidence of it any more. Perhaps, there is something about the kind of persons
who go into the seminary – the initial upbringing and personal baggage each probably

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takes along. That is why the introduction of some measure of psychology and human
development into some seminaries is a welcome development. It is in accordance with
the Vatican II prescription on priestly training: “Neglect no appropriate helps which
modern psychology and sociology can offer” (Optatam Totius, no. 2). Also “the norms of
Christian education are to be religiously maintained and should be properly
complemented by the latest findings in sound psychology and pedagogy” (Optatam
Totius, no. 11). It remains, though, to implement the requirement of a psychological
screening of candidates for the seminary (Obuna, 1995).
Moreover, the introduction of the spiritual year throughout almost all the diocesan
seminaries in Nigeria is a very good initiative; likewise, the presence of women lecturers
in some seminaries. Particularly commendable is the team approach to teaching
spirituality in one of the seminaries where a Sister works in a team with three priests –
meeting regularly to discuss, plan and evaluate their work with the students. In addition,
the formative influence of the seminary community itself cannot be under-estimated, as
spirituality is caught, not taught. The formative effect of the seminary community seeps
through to the students; for instance, in how they interact, pray, relate to others, travel,
practice awareness of God and so on. The All Seminaries Games Festival and the
National Association of Catholic Theology Students (NACATHS) weekend seminar, for
example, are very good initiatives. Among other benefits, they provide students from
different seminaries in different parts of the country opportunities to interact, share
experiences, inspire and enrich each other.
In relation to some of the elements highlighted earlier regarding the different
levels of openness to change in the Churches and seminaries across Nigeria and beyond,
we must remember the reality of the Biafran War. The Churches in the southeastern parts
of Nigeria were engrossed in survival issues during and immediately after the War when
the rest of the world was busy with implementation of the Vatican II Council. Moreover,
our own expatriate missionaries were repatriated by the Federal Government and so were
not available to carry out the implementation of the Council with us. The result has been
our tendency to equate orthodoxy with pre-Vatican II ideas and customs and to be closed-
minded and suspicious towards anything new or different from what the good old
missionaries taught us. This is evidenced in the obvious differences in ethos already cited.

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I venture to say that this situation is also reflected in some of the obvious differences
noticeable between some clergy/religious and members of religious missionary institutes.
The latter probably got the winds of change through the influence of their expatriate
members. George Ehusani’s (2000) memorandum on the experience of the Irish Church
similar to the trends examined here is very instructive for the Nigerian Church, which is
an off-shoot of the former.

III. MINISTERIAL CHALLENGES IN OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLD

a) World context
The contemporary world is marked by rapid changes in political, social,
economic, cultural and technological world order. Unprecedented developments in
communications and information technology have turned the world into “a global
cosmopolitan society” (McGarry, 1999; 195), consequently affecting how we live, think,
feel and act. The contemporary world of Catholics is characterized by: an increasingly
literate and educated populace; a congregation of people who would call the celebrants
aside after Mass and question them on their points and manner of presentation in their
sermon and add a word of advice. It is a pluralistic world in which, for example, people
are increasingly becoming aware of gender injustice and all other kinds of injustices and
are gradually getting to know and claim their God given human rights. This is a world in
which ordained ministers before long will no longer get away with much of the clerical
violence they have been visiting on God’s people. When Church leaders and supervisors
do not take satisfactory actions to redress wrongs brought to their attention, the people
begin to take action themselves. Already, our land has started to witness unprecedented
violence against the clergy. One would hope that this trend does not continue as we
wonder: Is there any relationship between clerical terrorism and the rising violence
against the clergy? This is very troubling for people who care for the Church and all its
members.
Unfortunately, the innocent ones get to pay for the sins of others. This trend is
very likely to continue unless some thing drastic changes in the seminary system to
correct the way many Church people relate to the laity. It is indeed disturbing, when one
considers that our people who are normally very reverential towards Church people

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would go to such extreme actions as some have done. Among other things, it calls for a
deep, honest, and non-defensive evaluation so as to get to the root causes of much of this
rising violence against the clergy. Here again, the reflections of George Ehusani (2000)
on the fate of the Church and clergy in Ireland come very handy.
Furthermore, our world is characterized by increasing waves of ethnic cleansing,
tensions, divisions and intolerance, which sometimes, extend into God’s household. Our
society is marked by injustices of which we are often the primary beneficiaries. Hence,
we are the ones who oppose change and instead seek to maintain the status quo while at
the same time crying “Justice! and Peace!”

b) Church context
Our context is a post-Vatican II Church. The contemporary Church has held
several continental synods, such as the Africa Synod, in a bid to more accurately read,
interpret and respond to “the signs of the times”. Thus, it is a Church that is continually
searching for new ways of being ever more faithful to its identity and mission in the
modern world. Even if apparently conservative and slow at times to change, the Church
has indeed changed its position on some vital issues in marvelous ways. One only gets to
know this on closer examination; that the Church has changed over the course of the
centuries and is appropriating ever more fully the larger reality of revelation and the
implications of God’s self-disclosure in the Christ event. A cursory look at the Catholic
social teachings over the years illustrates this point on the notion of equality, for example.
For many years it was resisted but now it has become accepted and has become a
constant feature in the more recent Catholic social teachings (Uchem, 2001a). As
revealed in various encyclicals, there has been a progressive growth in consciousness of
social justice in the Church. Our present pope, John Paul II, has excelled himself in
publicly admitting fault and rendering apology for various sins of injustice committed by
Church members. Some of us are not yet aware of these developments and have not read
about them and those who have read them have not yet done anything to emulate the
pope. Even though he is not yet open to the ordination question, the pope has called for
the full inclusion of women in decision-making at all levels (John Paul II, 1995).

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 In this very light, one may ask: How can we form future ministers of the gospel
who sufficiently informed and conscientized enough to take these developments to heart
and move in the direction of implementing them and stimulating further growth towards a
more just world, a more just church?

2. FURTHER REFLECTIONS
From the foregoing reports and analysis, it is clear that an exclusively rational
approach to Christian adult formation, or seminary formation for that matter, as in the
current seminary programme, cannot actually make anyone into Christian, let alone a
minister ready for meeting the challenges of the contemporary world. A head-knowledge
of Christian philosophical and doctrinal principles alone lacks the power to engage the
total person and bring about the necessary conviction, transformation and conversion
(Uchem, 2000; 8).
The question is: What kind of seminary formation is adequate for the demands of
ministry in the world and Church context described in the previous section? What kind of
seminary formation programme will produce pastoral ministers ready and well-equipped
for a Christ-centered ministry and witness, especially, in the African/Nigerian context?
What aspects of our Christian and African heritage can we mobilize in service of a real
seminary formation programme to effect the necessary transformation in the candidates
for the priesthood for the twenty-first century?
I suggest that only an experiential, holistic formation, which engages the total
person and encourages imaginativeness, self-expression, responsibility, accountability
and freedom to raise questions, can form mature adult Christians and ministers for the
twenty first century (Uchem, 2000; 8).

V. CONCLUSION: TOWARDS A HOLISTIC SEMINARY FORMATION

What is needed is a seminary formation that will produce priests that are basically
human, Christian and pastoral; ready not to be served but to serve people in the
contemporary world and Church as family. Ecclesia in Africa clearly recognizes this
when it declares:

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 Today more than ever, there is need to form future priests in the true cultural
values of their country, in a sense of honesty, responsibility and integrity. They
shall be formed in such a manner that they will have the qualities of the
representatives of Christ, of true servants and animators of the Christian
community … solidly spiritual, ready to serve, dedicated to evangelization;
capable of … living a simple life as befits their milieu (1995, no. 95).

The present seminary formation has been perceived as inadequate and the basic
challenge is to restructure it. Fortunately, the need for continuous updating of the
programme has been hinted and the groundwork already laid down in the Vatican II
decree on the training of priests.
Owing to a wide diversity of peoples and countries, each nation or rite should
have its own program of priestly training drawn up by the episcopal conference
and should be revised at regular intervals and approved by the Holy See. In every
such program, the general regulations will be adapted to the circumstances of time
and place, so that priestly training will always answer the pastoral requirements of
the particular area in which the ministry is to be exercised (Optatam Totius, no.1).

What remains, then, is to translate these fine ideas from paper into practical
implementation. I am, therefore, proposing a holistic model of seminary formation – a
formation that is integrally human and spiritual in content; experiential in methodology,
and pastoral in orientation. I am not offering a blue print for such a holistic model of
formation but rather hints and suggestions as to what might be included or reflected in the
seminary climate, content and methodology.
The philosophical and theological content will need to be updated so as to be
more responsive to contemporary African realities of increasing national and international
social, economic and political strangulation in the wake of the present dynamics of
globalization. The products of such formation will be better oriented to foster a
spirituality that links prayer with social actions directed toward change of the present
social order even as it looks forward to eternal bliss in heaven.

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 In the same vein, the formation programme should be imbued with a sense of
inculturation that is combined with the social justice consciousness that is currently
growing within the Catholic Church. In other words, the future priests should be
conscientized enough by the theological content not to get stuck in notions such as “It is
our culture. This is the tradition” as if these were the gospel itself. They should be able to
recognize oppressive traditional and cultural norms especially in gender and social class
issues. They should be Christian and human enough to transcend these cultural provisions
in the light of the demands and implications of Christ’s liberating Good News.
A holistic model of seminary formation involves an integral human and spiritual
development. It tries to balance the necessary components of the programme to stimulate
and facilitate growth in the different dimensions of the total person – the social, physical,
intellectual, emotional and spiritual – in keeping with the more recent insights from the
human sciences. It recognizes the nature of the human brain and the different functioning
of the right lobe and left lobe in processing information and getting to know reality,
especially, in terms of knowing through experiencing; God, for instance; as different from
knowing about God. It also allows for the role of the human imagination in personal
transformation. When these various aspects are reflected in the formation programme, the
results are most likely to translate later on into practical ways of making the gospel
message come alive in parish ministry.
A holistic model of seminary formation follows from the contemporary view of
the human person as more than a “body-and-soul” entity – a conceptualization that
originated from Greek dualistic philosophy and was incorporated into Christian doctrinal
formulation. Since some of the ancient Greek concepts are no longer sufficient to carry
the meaning of this particular reality in our current experience, other alternative thought
systems have since emerged to supplement their shortfalls.
Moreover, this expanded view is more in keeping with the African concept of a
human person as a social being, a communitarian; rather than a solitary individual. This
primal African worldview is holistic, unlike the Greek dualism. The African view of the
person evokes the communitarian ethos of the Blessed Trinity. Therefore, this awareness
should find practical implementation in a new model of seminary formation.

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 Accordingly, the new formation model will prepare candidates for the priesthood
to serve in collaborative style in the model of Church-as-family-of-God. As a corrective
on the present model, which trains people “to be in charge,” students should be offered
opportunities to work with others in teams and to expect to engage in team ministries in
the future. Our large student population can be grouped into smaller units in the pattern of
small Christian communities: “in which the skills of human communication are learned,
… trust … built up, … accountability and responsibility for the many aspects of seminary
life … assumed by the seminarians themselves” (McGarry, 1999: 207).
Apart from opportunities for a one-to-one spiritual direction, such small groups
will provide space for students to get in touch with and to share their struggles, hopes,
dreams, disappointments, joys, fears and all other kinds of feelings.
Steps should be taken to address frankly the issues of priestly celibacy; to
examine and possibly come up an appropriate response to the question of relations with
women. In addition, there needs to be a change in the relationship between seminary
authorities and students and between diocesan authorities and students. It should be more
like a relationship between elder and younger siblings so that authoritarianism and the
fear that it breeds will be reduced to a minimum. This will encourage a more relaxed
atmosphere and the freedom of spirit necessary for discernment. Finally, as much as
possible, seminary staff or formators should be appointed on the basis of their human
qualities and not only spiritual and academic qualifications so that formators can really be
role models for the students. In this way, an experiential, holistic seminary formation will
produce pastoral priests who are well developed, mature, well-integrated, responsible,
accountable, more imaginative and free enough to raise questions and engage the issues
of the twenty-first century.

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Christian Perspective: Envisioning an inclusive theology with reference to
women. Florida: Dissertion.com. /Enugu: SNAAP Press.
Uchem, R., N. (2001b). The Church as Family of God in Enugu Diocese: Experiences in
Small Christian Communities. A paper delivered at the Enugu Diocesan Synod at
the Sacred Heart Seminary, Nsude, October 11th, 2001.

Uchem. March 9, 2002.

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 OUTLINE
I. INTRODUCTION:
II. PRESENT MODEL OF SEMINARY FORMATION: AN ANALYSIS
1. THE SEMINARY CONTEXT
2. THE CONTENT
3. THE METHODOLOGY
4. SOME COMMENTS
III. MINISTERIAL CHALLENGES IN OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLD
1. MINISTERIAL CONTEXT
2. FURTHER REFLECTIONS
V. CONCLUSION: TOWARDS A HOLISTIC SEMINARY FORMATION
REFERENCES

Uchem. March 9, 2002.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. How would you describe the present seminary formation model or programme? What
image helps you to capture the experience?
2. What are the merits and demerits of the programme?
3. What are your own recommendations for a possible revision or improvement of the
programme?
4. Would you see a connection between clerical violence and violence against the clergy?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
4. How would you describe the present seminary formation model or programme? What
image helps you to capture the experience?
5. What are the merits and demerits of the programme?
6. What are your own recommendations for a possible revision or improvement of the
programme?
4. Would you see a connection between clerical violence and violence against the clergy?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
7. How would you describe the present seminary formation model or programme? What
image helps you to capture the experience?
8. What are the merits and demerits of the programme?
9. What are your own recommendations for a possible revision or improvement of the
programme?
4. Would you see a connection between clerical violence against people and violence
against the clergy?

Uchem. March 9, 2002.

18