Ongoing Formation of Priests

For some years now there has been a plan that each student of the seminary, on graduation, will be conferred with a degree. This is a very important step here as a degree means that priests would be able to teach religion in schools. Apart from the obvious benefits of having increased contact with young people from their parishes and also with their families through the schools, this would also mean that the priest's income would be supplemented by what they would be paid for their teaching hours.

Supplementing the priests' income is not an insignificant concern here. Many parishes have to operate on a shoestring and more than a few priests need to be supported from an ever-dwindling central fund of the diocese. Extreme poverty is almost always localised - the very poor live in the same areas (parishes) which means that those parishes are less likely than others to be able to develop. No matter what type of system you employ to ensure equity among the income that priests might receive, the reality is that wealthier parishes will always have a comfort zone that poorer ones will not be able to achieve. This is very evident when it comes to things like building, maintaining buildings, fundraising for local, providing catechetical materials, paying staff etc.

The idea of ensuring that all priests would have a formally accredited qualification seems to me to be not only a good idea, but a very necessary one as the local church here continues to develop. However, the idea has remained just that, an idea. In fact, far from granting them a degree, it seems to me that many obstacles are placed in their paths as they try to attain one, based on their seminary studies.

Last night I discovered that in the group that I am teaching in the Lay Institute there are a number of priests who have been obliged to follow the course that I am teaching to be able to gain credits that will stand to them as they try to progress to study at the Catholic University. While there is no reason to suggest that anyone, priests included, would not benefit from following courses, ongoing formation, and in-service training, it cannot be ignored that the courses given in the Lay Institute are courses that these priests have already completed during their seminary training. In fact, the seminary course will have been more in-depth and more detailed - for a start, it is longer, there is more opportunity for study, and the seminarians are dedicated to studying (unlike those who attend the Lay Institute who are trying to fit in their studying around their already busy lives).

The situation that these priests find themselves to be in is very strange. They are being obliged to study what they have already studied and, in one case, taught to others. It is akin to asking a Leaving Certificate student to return to do a year of primary school - I am sure that we would all learn things by returning to primary school, but that is not the point.

I'm not sure what solution there might be to this situation but it is one that needs to be addressed by both the bishops here and the university authorities.