Vocational Growth Through Self-Concept Development: An Approach to Counseling Students in the Minor Seminary

The purpose of this study is to indicate the need for, and suggest ways of, implementing an integral approach to personal growth and vocational development in seminary formation. Until Vatican II, vocational development was emphasized at the expense of personal growth. This imbalance in seminary formation was clearly shown in a psychological study of the Roman Catholic priests of America undertaken by the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference in 1971.1 According to this study, a large segment of the priests in the United States has not achieved the level of psychological maturity appropriate to their chronological age. This study puts part of the blame for this immaturity on the traditional seminary formation which emphasized the social role of the future priest at the expense of their personal growth. Since the Catholic Church followed the same style of formation all over the world up to the ecumenical council of Vatican II, it is a safe guess that this psychological immaturity is characteristic of a large number of priests in other parts of the world as well