Photo credit: Joseph catholic If seminaries obsess with an ‘ideal’ candidate, there’ll be very few priests in the future, writes Fr Gerard Dunne OP
Last week’s front page story in The Irish Catholic made for sad reading. Given the gravity of the subject matter, it is very surprising that the news story emanating from an anonymous communication, was given such credence by so many. There is a general level of acceptance that complaints of a serious nature from any anonymous source have the capacity to destroy individuals.
The fact that the story is now in the public domain, while regrettable, raises many questions and offers few answers. Although I was involved in vocations ministry for over a decade until two years ago, I find that there exists a fundamental difficulty in the Irish Church around vocations and those entering into a formation process. There are many generous young – and not so young – men who would want to offer themselves as candidates for priesthood.
Ordinarily, structures are in place to discern whether they have the appropriate levels of maturity to take on this form of life. However, it is disheartening to observe that the quality of candidates is often overlooked in favour of whether they could survive a formation system in seminary.
The normal prerequisites for entry into seminary life demand a maturity on many levels. These norms are universally accepted. But there is an ongoing difficulty regarding the spiritual maturity of men who desire to give their lives to Christ.
Pious
If a man is seen to be holy or pious, it is often seen as something to be concerned about. It may be that many good and holy vocations are lost or discouraged because of the living out of a ‘holy’ life that may not be accepted or deemed to be in keeping with the prevailing culture of a formation system.
In dealing with this issue, it is the role of vocations personnel to ascertain whether these men have the necessary qualities, including the spiritual aspect. The spiritual life has to be the fundamental foundation on which a vocation can grow and flourish. All other qualities flow from it.
It is a sad fact that the excessive monitoring of how a man tries to publicly live his faith comes under such scrutiny in seminaries and houses of formation for fear that it would be viewed as an imbalance. How many men have been discouraged because of this? It is hard to quantify.
A healthy attitude towards the acceptance of men with different qualities is needed by those charged with vocational discernment at all levels. Each potential vocation is unique – and there is no ‘one size fits all’ candidate.
Attitude
This healthy attitude would encourage many more to take the call of the Lord more seriously. If seminaries and houses of formation are in the business of seeking out the ‘ideal’ candidate, then there will be very few vocations into the future.
What the Church wants are holy priests, men of prayer with a deep relationship with God. If seminaries are looking for anything other than that, then the calibre of future priests in Ireland and beyond will be lacking.
Vocations are the product of many things, but primarily prayer. Isn’t it high time that the Church in Ireland stopped paying lip service to the lack of vocations and began shouting from the rooftops that it needs men of prayer to lead God’s people in the ways of faith? We can but hope – and pray!
