The Missionary Pastoral Conversion of the Training Structures of Future Priests in the Key of Synodality

Abstract

This article, in the logic of the see, judge and act method, seeks to take on the challenges of the missionary pastoral of conversion of the formation structures of future priests in light of the socio-cultural reality that impacts the lives of the formandi and the formation houses. The concept of crisis, the internal dynamics of the conversion process and vocational values offer clues to identify the moments in the itinerary of formation that need revision. Finally, in light of the experiences carried out in recent history, two formative times are proposed that favor synodality, that is, the clear option for communion, participation and mission. The time of assimilation, with a community structure, generally corresponding to the propaedeutic, the disciplic stage and part of the configuration stage, with the objective of knowledge of vocational values; and the time of verification, in a parish structure of, “a church which goes forth,” corresponding fundamentally to the configuration stage, with the objective of living vocational values in a stable way that stems from pastoral charity.