Priestly formation needs new approach to respond to African vocations gap

While Vatican data has recorded some growth in vocations in Africa, it has not matched the wider growth of the Church on the continent leaving some areas severely short of clergy.

A Nigerian theologian called for a new approach to the formation of candidates for religious life, warning that rigidity by formators was forcing aspiring priests out of their vocations. 

Speaking on a webinar organised by the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (Pactpan) amid concerns about dwindling vocations in Africa despite wider Church growth, Pactpan’s coordinator Fr Stan Chu Ilo suggested this was driven by a mistaken approach to priestly formation.

He raised concerns that some aspiring priests were being dismissed by their formators over problems that need not have halted their training had they been properly addressed. Some seminarians forced to leave have turned against the Church, expressing frustration at their treatment and the destruction of their vocation.

“There are many wreckages that we have created as a result of the kinds of formation that sometimes lack the face of Jesus Christ. People are discarded as if to say they’re wrecks,” said Fr Ilo, a priest of the Diocese of Awgu in Nigeria and a senior research professor at the Centre for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University, Chicago.

“There are some [seminarians] that leave and they become really hostile to the Church,” he continued.

The online discussion on 31 January, under the theme “Formation and Formators in a Synodal Church: A Bold Theological and Pastoral Rethink”, was part of efforts to map a way forward regarding how formators can help candidates grow in their vocations. 

“There are some people who are slaves to systems, to rule books. Relationships and bonds are broken because of the intransigence of formators who are not flexible enough, and are doing formation by rules and books, forgetting that human beings are not simply automatons,” Fr Ilo said.

While Vatican data has recorded some growth in vocations in Africa, it has not matched the wider growth of the Church on the continent. Pactpan emphasised that those who do enter formation need better support in such an environment.

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