B asis of the training PRIESTS who received their training before

the resolutions of Vatican 11 concerning seminaries were put into effect will doubtless remember the conditions of their term at the senior seminary.
The Rule was absolute, as in a monastery: cassocks and collars and birettas were worn at all times, and the latter were frequently doffed to professors and religious statues alike. The main emphasis was placed firmly on academic achievement. Life, by all accounts, was not easy.
Yet it can be argued that life in the seminaries is not really any easier for modern students. The ,reason for this is that, despite the relaxation of the stricter regulations of day-to-day life in the seminary, the individual student is expected, not to say required, to bear far more personal responsibilit than before.
This responsibility extends not only to the practical features of everyday existence, but also to the determination of individual vocation and general spiritual life. The organisation of seminaries was instigated as late as the 16th century, by the Council of Trent. Some of our seminaries have been active continuously since that time — Allen Hall, for instance, wat founded at Douai in 1568, and transferred to England in 1793.
The seminary of Valladolid, in Spain, was described by Elizabeth Tudor as Dart of a conspiracy by the King of Spain and Cardinal Alien "to gather together with great labours uppon his charges a multitude of dissolute youthes to begin the seminarie of Valladolid."
For the next 400 years, the basis of seminary training was the rule that a priest "must possess not only a liberal education, but also professional knowledge, and moreover. like an army or navy officer, he needs to acquire the manners and personal habits which become his calling." (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910), Although, since the Second Vatican Council, a new approach has developed, it is not expected to survive a further four centuries. Change in society requires a corresponding change in seminary education.
While the basis of faith, individual and corporate, and of training in theology and scripture, remains, it has become apparent that theology is indivisible from political. social and economic considerations.
This is not a posture struck to accommodate political trends: it is a realistic response to distinguishable currents of thought and behaviour in modern society.
Taking this as an acceptable premise, the designers of seminary curricula have incorporated in their programmes a large variety of training schemes.
These are based on a recognised need for far more pastoral practice — Vatican II having been a predominantly pastoral Council and also on a deeper commitment to personal responsibility.
They are characterised not by ex ternsl conformity though discipline is still maintained and rules applied — but by an inner, individual process of growth.
It is customary for students to visit hospitals and families in need, and to participate in ecumenical activities ranging from group discussion with the Anglican and Free Church communities to collective visits to old people's homes.
Some seminaries release students for sessions of teaching at schools of
all kinds. All students arc requird, before ordination, to spend some time in a parish, in order to experience the realities of pastoral life.
The diaconate, too, is of central importance. Deacons spend six months of their last year at the seminary in full-time ministry in a parish, before returning to the seminary for their last preparations for ordination.
Some seminaries, too, now have their own radio and television studios, where the students may learn the ever, more important art of communication using modern media techniques. Other courses include psychology, sociology, catechetics, communications and counselling.
Given the versatility demanded by this immense variety of ac tivities, it is not surprising that the traditional notion of "two years' philosophy, four years' theology" has been superseded.
It is obvious that within any given curriculum of seminary training there is much more which might be learned than time in which to learn it.
So the seminarian must be capable not only of assimilating a very varied programme of academic and practical skills, but also of Opening himself to a constant education throughout his ministry.
And it is the job of the seminary teachers to provide, throughout the six-year term of training. a "cohesive, global vision of the Christian mystery," as the aim is defined by the "Theological Formation of Future Priests" document published by the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome last year, There are lour senior seminaries in Britain, and a junior seminary at Upholiand. There are also the senior seminaries abroad — one at Valladolid in Spain and two in Rome -of which one, the Bede, caters for late vocations.
All these seminaries maintain strong links with local universities and colleges. At some it is possible to obtain a degree: for instance, Wonersh students may receive a diploma in theology from the University of Southampton. And the seminary of Allen Hall was transferred from Ware to Chelsea in order that students could attend lectures at Heythrop College.
The seminaries are not overburdened with students, nor for that matter with lecturers. The number of candidates to senior seminaries in England and Wales has remained steady at an average of about 112 for the last four years.
However, it is increasingly difficult to find staff for the seminaries, or at any rate staff who can cope with the expansion of the curriculum, and who can adapt to the new emphasis on individual, rather than corporate, courses.
inevitably, money is likewise in short supply. The Ecclesiastical Education Fund is unlikely to provide very much for the further developmetit of the seminaries: it frankly cannot afford to.
So the future is somewhat uncertain. The working party of the Cornmission for Priestly Formation is now studying the question of alternative methods of training. Perhaps during their deliberations they will look carefully at' trends in the Anglican Church, and the possibility of training both residential and non-residential students.
Finally, a system must be found which is flexible enough to allow of continual evaluation and, where 'necessary, adaptation to contemporary patterns of life.
Paul O'Hara