Aparecida 321: Formation Toward Maturity

The Aparecida bishops aim to ordain a mature person:

321. Special attention must be devoted to the process of human formation toward maturity, so that the vocation to the ministerial priesthood of the candidates becomes in each of them a stable and definitive life project, in the midst of a culture that exalts the disposable and the provisional.

So, countercultural. But not sheltered in the sense of ignorance or running away from one’s emotions:

The same is true of education for affectivity and sexual maturity. Such maturity should lead to understanding better the gospel meaning of consecrated celibacy as a value that configures one to Jesus Christ, and hence as a state of love, fruit of the precious gift of divine grace, according to the example of the nuptial self-giving of the Son of God; to receiving it as such with firm decision, with magnanimity and wholeheartedly; and to living it with serenity and faithful perseverance, with proper ascesis on a personal and community journey, as surrender to God and to others with a full and undivided heart.(Cf. Presbyterorum Ordinis 16; Optatam Totius 4; Pastores Dabo Vobis 50; Congregation for the Clergy, Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests; n.5; Congregation for Catholic Education, A Guide to Formation in Priestly Celibacy, n. 31, Rome 1974.)

In other words, one can’t give up what one has never had.

For deeper examination, an English translation of the 2007 document from the Aparecida Conference.

About catholicsensibility

Todd lives in Minnesota, serving a Catholic parish as a lay minister.
This entry was posted in 2007 Aparecida document, bishops, evangelization and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

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