THE
P RTAL
February 2019
Page 22
Anoint and cheer
our soiléd face …
Fr Michael Halsall
I t was
a joy last month to attend the ordination to the diaconate of Alistair
Ferguson, John Tee, and Michael Thompson, and we pray for them as they enter the
last phase of their formation and discernment before their ordination to the priesthood in July.
Those two words ‘formation and discernment’ are
key aspects of preparation for ordained ministry,
but they apply as much after ordination as they do
preparing for the big day. The 2016 Vatican document
on priestly formation – Ratio Fundamentalis – makes
two things crystal clear: first, that the seminarian, then
the priest, is the primary agent in his own formation;
secondly, that formation is a lifelong process.
for not being good enough, holy enough, or lacking the
virtues. However, the person asking these questions
of themselves are the ‘raw material’ that God wishes
to form into something beautiful and effective. If you
are considering a vocation, then use this forthcoming
Lent to spend time being still, and listening to the
prompting of the Holy Spirit. More on how to do this
next month.
Fr Halsall is the Director of Vocations
and Formation for the Ordinariate
and is a member of the permanent
staff at Allen Hall Seminary.
He may be contacted as follows:
[email protected]
There can be a sense that being newly ordained, and
having been given the priestly tools and graces, then
it is down to work. Formation, however, begins at our
baptism and, despite all our efforts and progress in the
spiritual life, we are always ‘work in progress’.
In the Church of England, we used to speak about
‘training for ministry’, which is a very different activity
than formation. You can be trained by another;
formation comes from a desire from within the person
themselves. To be an effective deacon or priest (in all
respects) requires that we be formed in the virtues, as
they are laid out in the Catechism (paras 1803-1832); it
is part of our life in Christ.
Priesthood is less about what we can do, and more
about the person we are. This formation, and hence
conformity to Christ, is the Christian vocation for
everyone, and opens the door to discerning how we
might serve Christ in the church and the world. For
those who are engaged in this discernment process,
then we have help in our pastors, fellow Christians,
and the still small voice of God the Holy Spirit.
Moving forward in our faith, and contemplating a
vocation, can be daunting. We often reprove ourselves