The Spanish weekly bulletin Alfa & Omega reports that due to increased human and affective immaturity of candidates who desire to study for the priesthood, Rome is considering increasing the minimum age required for ordination. Currently the age is 25, but a minimum age of 27 is being considered. Alfa & Omega also states that if the age is not increased, seminaries will be required to insert an introductory course prior to a man being definitively accepted into the seminary.
This has arisen as the Holy See is finalizing the latest draft of the Ratio fundamentalis, the document that delineates seminary formation. The updated Ratio will stress more the need for men to be “configured to Christ” rather than academics. The final years of formation will be reinforced with greater emphasis on pastoral work and the importance of community in order to avoid isolation and loneliness among newly ordained priests.
Alfa & Omega accurately points out that bishops, rectors, formators, and spiritual directors today are fully aware of the increased immaturity found among men when they arrive to the seminary. The greatest need is human formation. In Pastores Dabo Vobis, Saint John Paul II stressed the centrality of human formation by stating, “the whole work of priestly formation would be deprived of its necessary foundation if it lacked a suitable human formation.” He also wrote, “affective maturity is a significant and decisive factor in the formation of candidates for the priesthood.” The priest will be ineffective in his ministry if he first is not a fully functioning human being. He must be an instrument of God’s presence for others, rather than a hindrance.
In general, youth today are maturing at a slower rate and this is affecting seminary formation. The Bishop of Urgell, Spain, observed that “seminarians are young men like others, sons of our society, so they arrive to seminary lacking the same human maturity as other young men.”
The new Ratio is currently being reviewed by bishops and seminary formators throughout the world. The rector of the seminary of Madrid, Jesus Vidal, stated that “personal accompaniment is indispensable to verify a call from God, but also to evaluate the maturity of the person.” He explained that seminary is not only about theology, but about integrating the past, healing wounds and maturing as a man.
Picture is mine, all rights reserved. Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Savannah, 2016
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