Carlos Chiclana: "Priests must take care of themselves in order to take care of others".Throughout this week, and until Saturday, February 10, at the Auditorium della Conciliazione, a few steps from St. Peter's Basilica, an international congress dedicated to the ongoing formation of priests, promoted by the Dicastery for the Clergy and in collaboration with the Dicastery for Evangelization and for the Oriental Churches, is being held.
Among the themes at the center of the reflection is the rediscovery of the "beauty of being disciples today" and the need for a "unique, integral, communitarian and missionary formation", as also foreseen in the "Ratio Fundamentalis", the document of the same Dicastery for the Clergy on the priestly vocation.
Urgent issues
Among the questions raised by the participants are how the "change of era" affects the mission of the priest, taking into account the different geographical and cultural contexts, but also how to integrate one's own ministry within a Church that wants to be synodal and missionary. Other aspects referred to the importance of integral formation (what challenges and urgent steps need to be taken in this field), overcoming loneliness and individualism, and the new pastoral challenges.
Conversation in the Spirit
The conference activities are interspersed with the dynamic of discernment now known as Conversation in the Spirit, adopted at the last Synod of Bishops, which involves personal preparation, a time of silence and prayer, taking turns speaking and listening, a subsequent time of prayer and then sharing from what others have said, before community dialogue and a final prayer of thanksgiving.
The meeting of priests with the Pope
On Thursday, the participants, accompanied by the superiors of the Dicasteries involved, were received in audience by Pope Francis in the Paul VI Hall. The Pontiff first encouraged the priests to share good practices, to face the challenges of the times and to focus on the future of priestly formation.
He then indicated three ways to rekindle the gift of the priestly vocation. First of all, as he has suggested in recent days also to consecrated persons, the Pope stressed the need to live and transmit the "joy of the Gospel," recalling that at the center of the Christian life is friendship with the Lord, which frees from the sadness of individualism, and makes one become a witness rather than a teacher.
For the Pontiff, it is therefore necessary to cultivate "belonging to the people of God," the priestly people, by whom one feels guarded and sustained. This is why formation, which ultimately involves every baptized person, is important. Finally, we must aspire to a service that is generative, centered on the beauty and goodness that each person carries within.
Seminar trainers
Continuing with these themes, the University of the Holy Cross hosted last week a long program of studies promoted for the eighth year by the Center for Priestly Formation, dedicated this time to deepening pastoral themes. About fifty priests, seminary formators from various countries participated in the program. Bishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, opened the session, focusing on the "pastoral conversion of the Church".
Carlo Bresciani, Bishop of San Benedetto del Tronto, in the Italian region of the Marche, spoke on the "human perfume of the pastor"; and Giuseppe Forlai, spiritual director of the Pontifical Major Seminary of Rome, on "spiritual paternity". They then reflected on "preaching and the homily", on "evangelization through networks" and on the "ministry of confession and spiritual accompaniment". The week concluded with a conference by the Patriarch of Venice, Msgr. Francesco Moraglia, on how to integrate spiritual life and mission.
