Priestly Formation, primarily, is a ‘Human Formation’, because it aims at making a priest ‘Fully Human'. Human Formation is a process, which results in making a person mature and well-integrated, able to actualise his own potentialities and simultaneously contribute to the welfare of the society. Hence, during the period of Seminary Formation, a person is helped to integrate all the dimensions - Spiritual, Intellectual, Physical, Psychological and Apostolic - of his life with that of his personality. During the period of Philosophical studies, seminarians, as young men in the age group of twenty to twenty-five, confront problems of personal identity, the meaning of life, significance of vocation, and so on. Added to these, they are also challenged by their philosophical studies and the values of the society. Hence, it is important for the students to learn to integrate their philosophical studies with their life and personality. That is why Vianney Bhavan requires of every student to have a ‘Personal Formation Plan’ containing all the priorities of life, in order to aid their growth and integration. At the end of every year and at the end of their three year stay, every seminarian will be evaluated, basing on certain key areas of seminary life that have been discussed here.

Vianney Bhavan, being the Regional Philosophy Seminary for the formation of the Diocesan Clergy in Odisha, strives to foster ‘Diocesan Spirituality’ in the lives of the seminarians. The Spirituality of a Diocesan Priest may embody various aspects. However, the following areas are considered indispensable:

• Commitment to Jesus who has called the young man.
• Commitment to the ‘Local Church’ to which the seminarian has offered his service.
• Commitment to the Bishop, who is the centre of unity in the ‘Local Church’.
• Commitment to the Presbyterium of the Diocese to which he belongs.

The ‘Formation Programme’ of Vianney Bhavan thus seeks to assist a seminarian to deepen his understanding of all the four areas mentioned above so that he may learn to make those four commitments affectively and effectively. The Seminary seeks to facilitate the learning of languages and the history of the Mission to which the Seminarian belongs. It encourages the seminarians to regularly correspond with their bishops and to look forward to the visit of priests abrir loja and bishops from their respective dioceses. Spirituality is not merely external acts of prayers, though regularity in them is a good indication of commitment and steadiness of character. It is an ongoing relationship between God and fellow human beings. Only a personal and profound involvement with God gives the strength to practise the essential virtues required for priestly ministry. The seminarians are required to have recourse to the following means to assist themselves in their ‘Spiritual Growth’:

• Daily participation in the Eucharist and Community Prayers.
• Daily Meditation (30 minutes) and Personal Prayer (30 minutes).
• Reflective Reading of the Bible and other spiritual books like the ‘Imitation of Christ’, ‘Lives of Saints’ etc.
• Attendance at the Holy Hour on First Fridays and weekly Adoration on Sundays.
• Devotion to the Blessed Mother (Daily recitation of the Rosary).
• Participation at the monthly Recollection.
• Making the annual Retreat for five full days.
• Frequent approach to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
• Regular correspondence with one’s own Bishop and the Diocesan Moderator of Seminarians.
• Keeping in touch with all the important pastoral activities and events of own Diocese.

The Seminary is a community of unique persons with different personality, socio-economic background, language, ethnicity and culture. And yet every person in a seminary community is centered on Christ with a common Goal, Vision and Mission. That is why a Seminary Community plays a major role in nurturing and deepening the human qualities as well as the religious values in the life of a Seminarian. The Trinitarian model of inter-subjectivity at play in the Seminary Community facilitates a Seminarian to be abrir loja an affective person. Thus every young man in the Seminary is led through a learning experience to be aware of the feelings of peace, joy, affection, compassion, sexuality, anger, fear, guilt, jealousy, envy and so on. An awareness of such feelings and experiences helps a Seminarian to gradually learn to accept and integrate them so as to be able to grow as a wholesome person. The seminarians are required to have recourse to the following means to assist themselves in their ‘Psycho-Social Growth’:

• Active participation in the planning and execution of various community activities and programmes.
• A cheerful disposition to accept community assignments and other tasks and do them with a sense of responsibility.
• Helping one another to learn to work in a group even if it is against one’s own liking.
• Having a spirit of openness to the group and community, that is to say, a spirit of dialogue and listening.
• Regular sharing with the Rector and Spiritual Director of one’s personal progress as well as positive/negative emotional feelings and experiences.
• Relating to superiors and friends with freedom and respect. Helping one another when one is straying away abrir loja from the right path, and if things go wrong, bring it to the notice of the superiors.
• Learning to make friends among one’s peer group and experiencing joy in being with them, recreating with them, enjoying the occasions of outing, picnic with them etc.

Intellectual Formation The present day Seminarians of Vianney Bhavan will be the future priests of the Church in Odisha. This Church will render her pastoral care to the human society of the 21st Century whose demands and expectations of the priests are great indeed. At the end of a long period of formation ‘the newly ordained priest’ is expected to be abrir loja a well educated person endowed with contemporary knowledge of science, philosophy, religion, literature as well as the customs, techniques and values of the human society whose pastoral care is his duty and responsibility. In other words a priest must be ‘a cultured person’ who has benefited from his years of education and formation to let his personality develop and mature.

A Priest is a disciple of Christ, who in response to Christ’s call, comes to live with Him and then goes forth to proclaim His mission, the mission of God’s love for all men, women and children (Cf. Mark 3:13-15). As a student of Philosophy a seminarian may be abrir loja a long way from being ordained a priest, and yet he is expected to undertake a committed preparation to enter into such a missionary spirituality from the very early years. The seminarians are required to have recourse to the following means to assist themselves in their initiation into a Pastoral/Apostolic Spirituality:

• Acquaint oneself with the people and their living conditions through visits and activities in the villages during major holidays (Christmas, Easter and Summer).
• Listen to and learn from the experiences of the senior missionaries and pastors when they meet them during retreats, recollections, seminars and similar occasions.
• Interact with an open and critical mind with learned men and women of other religious faiths when they come to deliver extension lectures.
• Cultivate a love for the local language(s) of the people with whom one is going to work, and make every effort to learn them.
• Develop each one’s God-given talents for singing, painting and public speaking, etc.
• Acquire basic skills and knowledge on land, farming, gardening, animal husbandry, electricity, cooking gas, and so on. All these skills and knowledge will come handy in the Mission Stations in future.
• Above all cultivate a love for the Church and the Gospel and make all possible efforts to grow as a friend of Jesus. Unless they have Jesus, they cannot give Jesus to others.

Every vocation is a gift from God. Our Lord makes it very clear when he says, “You did not choose me, it was I who chose you” (John 15:16a). The quality of the response of an aspiring candidate for priesthood will depend on the degree of his goodwill and generosity to let Jesus use him to bear much fruit. Annual evaluation is one of the methods which the Seminary uses to assess the response of a seminarian to the call of Jesus. At the end of every academic year an evaluation will be made on every student, basing abrir loja on the above mentioned areas. Other factors that are relevant to ‘Priestly Formation’ may be used in the evaluation and its report will be sent to their respective Bishops along with a transcript of the marks obtained by them on various subjects during the year. The annual evaluation will have a triangular approach, namely, (1) the seminarian himself will submit a self-evaluation, (2) one of his companions will be requested to evaluate the seminarian and then (3) the Rector and the staff will evaluate the seminarian. All the three evaluations will then be compiled into a single report.