Mentoring the Mentor and the Mentee in Vocation Formation

Mentoring the Mentor and the Mentee examines the problem of formation of future priests and religious in major seminaries and houses of formation in Nigeria. It observes that the great chasm between theory and practice in the life of some priests and religious could be traced to inadequate formation in the seminaries and houses of formation on account of contexts and structure of formation. However well-intentioned their motivation and however genuine their personal commitment to their vocation, future priests in Nigeria need a comprehensive and well-designed formation. Adequate formation does not depend on prolongation of formative years of candidates for the priesthood. The proprietors of provincial seminaries, the formators and the home community of candidates for the priesthood are the mentors who need to be mentored in order to achieve the goal of formation according to the Church's directives. The mentees, seminarians, have grave obligation to be docile to formation and accept responsibility for their own personal renewal and auto-formation..