The Seminary, as an institution, exists in the form of a Christian formative community. This means that the community is not only the place where formation is received, but rather that it possesses a formative capacity in itself. This is according to the fundamental value of communion in the Church and with the radical way of community life that is proper to priestly ministry.
A healthy pedagogy of formation will not neglect to pay attention to the experience and dynamic of the group of which the seminarian forms a part. Community life during the years of initial formation must make an impact on each individual, purifying his intentions and transforming the conduct of his life as he gradually conforms himself to Christ. Formation comes about every day through interpersonal relationships, moments of exchange and discussion which result in the development of that ‘fertile soil’, in which a vocation matures concretely (RIFS, 50).
Effectively, human relationships that are nurtured and interpreted by the grace of God and, in concrete, by the gift of the priestly vocation, are the ordinary vehicle for the transmission of values that will be fundamental for the future exercise of ministry. The educational community comes to be, therefore, a field of maturation and of discernment of the vocation.
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