SEOUL (UCAN): At its recent plenary assembly, held from October 15 to 17, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea approved a new set of guidelines which revise the direction of priestly formation, defining it as more of a lifetime journey rather than something just for seminarians in order to train priests to properly serve the demands of the faithful and society.
 
Based on The Gift of Priestly Vocation, issued by the Congregation for the Clergy in 2016, the revised rules will be sent to the Vatican soon for ratification, the Korean Church said.
 
According to the new guidelines, seminarians and priests will play key roles as the main agents for priestly formation and work for their sanctification.
 
The main change is that the training of seminarians and the lifetime education of priests will be integrated once the guidelines are officially approved.
 
In addition, priestly formation courses will be expected to include educational classes on how to prevent sexual abuse and related crimes.
 
The new rules clearly state that anyone who commits or is party to a crime, including helping to cover it up, will be forbidden from entering the seminary and can no longer be ordained.
 
Meanwhile, the bishops have decided to offer more pastoral care for immigrant workers in rural areas and play a more active role in speaking up on human rights and social entitlements.