Stresses spiritual formation of Seminarians
From Gordon Wellu, Tamale
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His Eminence Ivan Cardinal Dias, Papal Legate to the closing ceremony of the 100 years of Catholicism in the Tamale Ecclesiastical Province, has tasked Seminary Formators to take seriously the spiritual growth and maturity of Seminarians under training to promote spiritual leadership for the Church.
Cardinal Dias, who is also the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, said this when he addressed the Seminary staff and Seminarians of the St. Victor’s Major Seminary at Tamale.
The visit to the Seminary was part of activities that climaxed the Centenary.
The Papal Legate asked Seminary Formators not to over-emphasise the academic formation of Seminarians to their spiritual detriment.
He said in an era of globalisation and information technology, bringing with them secularism and careerism, future Priests were in danger of being absorbed by the world if they lacked solid spiritual formation.
The lack of it, he said, results in producing unbalanced Priests.
Cardinal Dias told Seminary Professors not to distant themselves from Seminarians but relate with them freely to inculcate confidence instead of fear in them.
He said the tendency for many Formators was to see themselves as “superior beings” whose decisions were sacrosanct.
He said Formators must regard their presence in the Formation Houses as one of service, dialogue with Seminarians and not behave like “Paramount Chiefs.”
He said Seminarians must imbibe and practice in toto the doctrine of the Church and not the opinions of theologians, noting that anyone who built on opinions would be superficial and superfluous in his judgements.
Cardinal Dias stressed what he termed as the three Ds, namely Doctrine, Discipline and Devotion, which are basic in the formation life of every Seminarian.
The Papal Legate asked Seminarians to hold the Liturgy of the Church as the most Sacred entity that the Church had ever had.
“Don’t fool with Sacred things like the Eucharist because the secret of the success of the Catholic Church is the Eucharist,” he emphasised.
Seminarians should also take certain devotions like Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary seriously to boost their spiritual maturity.
Cardinal Dias underscored the need for quality priests not just quantity, priests who would understand their call as one of sanctity and service.
He also paid courtesy calls on His Eminence Peter Cardinal Dery, Archbishop Emeritus of Tamale, the Carmelite Monastery and later presided over the investiture of Rev. Msgr. Christopher Bazaanah, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Tamale, and Rev. Msgr. Andrew Tengan, a Senior Priest, at the Our Lady of Annunciation Cathedral at Tamale.
The Cardinal crowned his visit to the Province by presiding over a concelebrated Mass for the youth at the Saints Peter & Paul Parish at Education Ridge, Tamale.
Accompanying the Cardinal in his rounds in the Tamale Province were Most Rev. George Kocherry, Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana; Most Rev. Gregory Kpiebaya, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale; Most Rev. Lucas Abadamloora, Bishop of Navrongo-Bolgatanga and President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Rev. Philip Naameh, Bishop of Damongo.
The Rector of St. Victor’s, Very Rev. Fr. Cletus Kulah, said to ensure qualitative formation of Seminarians, the St. Victor’s Major Seminary had been split into three campuses, namely, the St. Michael’s Seminary at Kaleo in the Wa Diocese for Spiritual Year; the St. Augustine’s Millennium Seminary also in Tamale for Philosophical Studies and the St. Victor’s for Theology.
Fr. Kulah stated that St. Victor’s was not only forming priests for the five Dioceses that formed the Tamale Province, but was also producing priests for Burkina Faso, Angola, Kenya, Mali, DR Congo and Liberia. The Divine Word Missionaries (SVDs) also train their Priests’ there.
Currently, the Seminary has 156 Seminarians, 62 studying Theology while 92 are pursuing Philosophy. Out of the total number, 99 are Diocesan Seminarians while 57 are SVDs.
It has 18 Formation staff, seven part-time lecturers and 32 non-teaching Staff.
The Seminary is affiliated to the University of Ghana, Legon and the Pontifical Urban University in Rome which award Degrees and Diplomas to Seminarians.
Cardinal Dias presented ¢2 million to the Seminary "to take a holiday" as a custom when a Papal Legate visits a Seminary.
He also visited the St. Augustine’s Millennium Seminary, where he laid the foundation stone for the construction of a Chapel.
On behalf of his colleagues, the Dean of Seminarians, Rev. David Kajal, pledged to uphold the three ‘Ds’ of doctrine, discipline and devotion emphasised by Cardinal Dias.
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