Many people wonder what actually goes on in a seminary. Some imagine a rather sheltered existence, almost detached from ordinary life, with very little to do. In reality, there is a great deal to deal with: theological and spiritual formation, of course, but also emotional maturity, sexuality, relationships, the ability to live with others, to accept correction and to work through conflict without turning it into a personal war. Then there is the more mundane side of community life: cleaning, tidying up, taking your turn and doing jobs that nobody notices and for which there will be no applause.
Like any place of formation, a seminary should be somewhere people enter in order to grow, mature and become men capable of taking responsibility. And yet anyone who knows seminaries from the inside is well aware that certain dynamics develop within them which, even today, people prefer not to discuss, often out of fear, convenience or simply a code of silence.
It is no coincidence that, for years, there has been repeated talk of the need to ‘form the formators’. Far too often, extremely sensitive responsibilities in seminaries are entrusted to priests who display less maturity than they demand of seminarians. Men who are unable to handle the authority they have been given and who turn an educational role into a personal exercise in likes and dislikes, favouritism and punishment, protection and settling scores.
