SEMINARIANS' STRUGGLE WITH IDENTITY CRISIS

I just came back from the annual reunion of old classmates from the minor Seminary.

The picture above shows Seminarians singing in the chapel, during the one year period of spiritual formation before the major Seminary.

The minor Seminary is a secondary school but with the sole intention to train candidates for the priesthood. However not all who graduate after SS 3 would continue to the major Seminary. Thus, the reunion consist of those who are still in the Seminary and those who have chosen other paths.

The picture above is the picture of one of those who came for the reunion. He was once a classmate.

Looking at the ex-seminarians and their cars, the crispy notes they pay dues with, the rings on their hands, for some were either engaged or married. Those who weren’t were happily single. The expensive clothes and shoes. The freedom to spend, to speak , to act without undue pressure, most times we just consider for a moment our choices to continue as a charade, a bad decision.

There is this struggle to either remain faithful to our choice or to consider it a mistake and move away just to measure up. We often consider the lack of practical freedom, financial morale, leisure as a deprivation. The worst is that most times we tend to rely on the gifts we receive from them. These make us reconsider the choice we made. Did we even have our brains active when we chose this path. We should have left with them after the minor Seminary. Why did we just continue.

But on a second note, I ask myself, what was the guarantee that if I had left with them, I would become materially successful as they appear? At this point, the picture of those of them who were really struggling appear to sight. Yes they had the freedom, but they wished they hadn’t left the Seminary.
A seminarian in the contemporary Nigerian Church is usually between the ages of 20-35. Some could be older. However, no matter the ages, seminarians are young men who have similar inclinations, tendencies, urges, hunger, and dreams just like their counterparts outside the seminary walls. There is the constant struggle to act and react like any other young man of their age. And at the same time, there is this struggle to remain faithful to the demands of their choice of life. There is the struggle to dress like everyone else of their age, there is the struggle to hangout like everyone else of their age, there is the struggle to keep friends like everyone else in the same age bracket, there is the struggle to make ends meet and pay bills just like any other person, of course seminary education is not a free education there are also some financial responsibilities. There is the struggle to keep the tension around the loins in check and not respond to the stimulus like every other person. You all know, the pressure not to have sex and to guard the urge in check.
An understanding of these struggles would aid friends, family members, superiors, be patient with the young man.

The picture above was when I was receiving the cassock from the bishop.

However, effort is needed on the part of the seminarian to keep his response to these tensions in check so that as much as possible he remains in the camp he is meant to belong.