Thailand’s Catholic bishops are reshaping the way future priests are formed by investing in the training of seminary formators, emphasizing accompaniment, emotional maturity, and pastoral leadership in response to the challenges of a rapidly changing world.
The renewed approach marks a shift away from formation models focussed primarily on academics and discipline toward a more holistic framework rooted in the Vatican’s 2016 document, Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis.
Church leaders in Thailand said formators must be prepared to guide seminarians through changing social realities, digital culture, and the demands of transparent and accountable ministry while deepening their own spiritual and human formation.
Central to the approach is the call for formators to become true spiritual guides who understand the personal journeys of seminarians and accompany them in their vocation. Church leaders also stressed that formators themselves must undergo ongoing conversion, continually deepening their human and spiritual maturity. The renewed vision was reflected in a recent training course held at Baan Phu Waan, west of Bangkok.
Organized by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Thailand, the program brought together formators from diocesan seminaries and religious congregations, including participants from Dominic Savio Seminary. The course was directed, and focused on strengthening four essential dimensions of formation: human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral.
A distinctive feature of the program was its use of the See–Judge–Act method, a pastoral approach developed by Belgian Cardinal Joseph Cardijn and widely used in Catholic social teaching. The method encourages participants to engage reality through observation, reflection, and concrete action. It begins with examining real-life situations and their underlying causes, followed by reflection in the light of Scripture and Church teaching, before leading to responses aimed at promoting justice and transformation.
