FABC President Urges Seminaries to Prepare Priests for Pastoral Realities

Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrão, Archbishop of Goa and Daman in western India and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), has called for a renewed approach to priestly formation, urging seminaries to prepare future priests for the complex human and pastoral realities of ministry.

Addressing about 100 participants at a symposium on “Bridging Formation and Ministry: Critical Challenges and Concerns in the Last Phase of Priestly Formation Today,” held November 4–9 at Prabodhana in Mysuru, Karnataka, the cardinal stressed that academic excellence alone cannot prepare candidates for the demands of priestly life.

Organized in the context of the Pallottine Jubilee Year, the symposium examined how the final phase of seminary formation can better equip candidates for pastoral responsibilities.

Cardinal Ferrão said priests must be prepared to accompany grieving families, resolve conflicts, listen to young people and support economically vulnerable communities. Such responsibilities require spiritual depth, emotional maturity, sound judgment and practical wisdom.

“The question before us, therefore, is not whether seminaries provide sufficient information. It is whether formation develops the kind of person who can bring the Gospel into the real circumstances of God’s people,” he said.

Reflecting on changing social realities, he pointed to migration, family separation, economic inequalities, social exclusion, religious diversity and ecological concerns as challenges shaping pastoral ministry in India and across Asia.

He cautioned that academic achievement does not necessarily indicate personal maturity, noting that candidates must also develop healthy relationships, emotional stability, openness to correction and responsible attitudes toward authority.

Drawing on Mark 3:14, where Jesus calls the Twelve to be with him and sends them out, Cardinal Ferrão emphasized that communion with Christ and missionary service must remain inseparable in priestly life. He cited Jesus washing the disciples’ feet and accompanying the disciples on the road to Emmaus as models of servant leadership, listening and pastoral accompaniment.

Referring to St. John Paul II’s Pastores Dabo Vobis and the 2016 Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, he underlined the integration of the four dimensions of priestly formation: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral.

He also highlighted synodality, calling seminaries to become communities where future priests learn to recognize and encourage the gifts of all the baptized, including laypeople, religious sisters and families.

The cardinal proposed nine practical measures, including supervised pastoral exposure, assessment of personal maturity alongside academic performance, psychological support, safeguarding education, practical ministry skills and greater participation of laypeople in formation.

He also called for continuous preparation of seminary formators and structured mentoring for newly ordained priests, stressing that formation must continue after ordination.

Contextual theological reflection using the SEE–JUDGE–ACT method, he added, would help candidates interpret real pastoral situations through Scripture, theology and Catholic social teaching.

“Ordination does not close the book of formation. It opens a new chapter in the lifelong school of pastoral charity,” Cardinal Ferrão said.

He challenged participants to examine what kind of priests seminaries are currently producing, what kind of priests communities need, and what changes are necessary to bridge the gap.

He concluded that priestly formation must ultimately nurture a living relationship with Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, reflected in the humanity, fidelity and compassionate service of his ministers.