The spiritual development and well-being of seminarians: A basis for spiritual formation program

A mixed method design was used in a cross-sectional study that investigated the relationship between the spiritual development and well-being of seminarians. This study is anchored on the Faith Development Theory of Fowler that delineated the tripartite perspective of spiritual development pertaining to the relationship with oneself, relationship with others, and relationship with God. A total of 434 seminarians across three stages of seminary formation participated in this study. The results revealed that the three aspects of spiritual development predict the well-being of seminarians across the three stages of seminary formation. There is also a positive significant difference in the three aspects of spiritual development among the seminarians across the three stages of seminary formation. The seminarians in the Configuration stage scored the highest among the seminarians in the Discipleship and Propaedeutic stages with respect to their relationship with oneself, with others and with God. However, there was no significant difference in terms of their well-being of the seminarians across the three stages of seminary formation. The results of the study from both the quantitative and qualitative analysis gave clarity to the reality of seminary formation of future diocesan priests in the Philippines