Human Formation

human formation

Human Formation


St. Albert the Great Seminary has chosen to focus attention on forming good and committed Catholic priests who will face their tasks as ministers of the Word and Sacraments with utmost diligence. We hope to achieve this by insisting on thorough and profound instruction in the classical disciplines as well as the traditions of the Church. This will go hand-in-hand with an exploration of our cultural roots to enable candidates imbibe the positive values of our cultural heritage that find an easy consonance with those of our faith tradition. Areas of focus include developing a strong community spirit that takes the appreciation of the value of the human person as the template for social interaction; seeking to instil a deep sense of respect for persons, whether older or younger; insisting on and encouraging the development of an acute sense of responsibility for one’s own self, one’s actions and towards one’s obligations; as well as seeking to encourage the development of a deep sense of faithfulness to one’s commitments.

Seminary Segmentation into Units

Each hostel is grouped as a community under the headship of a member of the Formation Team that is resident within that hostel. The residents have a common recreation room and an oratory within the hostel structure. To help foster both social and spiritual communion, the programme provides for House Masses on Wednesdays and Compline most evenings. The current population of these communities are 20 and 21. It is hoped that even when the seminary is fully on stream, the maximum number of each community will average about 30. From within these communities, close interpersonal interaction is engendered, and growth in the required values is closely fostered and observed.

Furthermore, the virtue of seeking elegance in simplicity in one’s tastes and comportment is highly emphasized. This goes hand in hand with the encouragement and fostering of an acute sense of personal and environmental hygiene that finds expression in the dictum: ‘cleanliness is next to Godliness.’ In this way, we hope to nurture in our future priests, the aesthetic values of cleanliness and orderliness that allow for the emergence of the natural goodness and beauty that are imbedded in every aspect of creation.