A SYNODAL APPROACH TO PRIESTLY FORMATION: DEVELOPING NEW AND CREATIVE PATHWAYS FOR MINISTRY IN GHANA

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

2024 THEOLOGY WEEK

MARCH 11, 2024

ST. PETER’S REGIONAL SEMINARY, PEDU

DELIVERED BY JOHN KOBINA LOUIS

AUXILIARY BISHOP OF ACCRA

THEME: A SYNODAL APPROACH TO PRIESTLY FORMATION: DEVELOPING NEW AND CREATIVE PATHWAYS FOR MINISTRY IN GHANA

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Your Excellency, the Chairman of the Opening Ceremony, Most Rev. Matthias K. Nketsiah; the Rector, Very Rev. Fr. Robert Charles Snyper; the Vice Rector/Chairman of the Theology Week Planning Committee; dear formators; other priests and religious present; visiting lecturers; distinguished guests; dear seminarians; ladies and gentlemen; it is a privilege to deliver the keynote address for the 2024 Theology Week. May I, therefore, take this opportunity to thank the Rector and the Planning Committee for this honour.

The theme for this Theology Week is: “A Synodal Approach to Priestly Formation: Developing New and Creative Pathways for Ministry in Ghana”. This theme is very apt, since it takes inspiration from the Synod of Bishops which will be concluded in October 2024 in Rome. The Synod, which was convoked by Pope Francis in 2021, has the theme: “For a Synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.”

1.2 OUTLINE

I) A Synodal Approach to Priestly Formation

• Priestly Formation
• Synodal Approach
• Communion and Priestly Formation
• Participation in Priestly Formation
• Mission and Priestly Formation

II) Developing New and Creative Pathways for Ministry in Ghana

• Priestly Ministry
• Examining Priestly Ministry in Ghana Today
  • Teaching Ministry
  • Sanctifying Ministry
  • Shepherding Ministry

• Developing New and Creative Pathways
  • Proposed Pathways for Teaching Ministry
  • Proposed Pathways for Sanctifying Ministry
  • Proposed Pathways for the Shepherding Ministry

Conclusion

2.0 A SYNODAL APPROACH TO PRIESTLY FORMATION

2.1 Priestly Formation

Fundamental to any discussion on priestly formation is the understanding that the ministerial priesthood is a call and a gift from God to share in the unique priesthood of His Son, Jesus Christ.¹ The discernment of this usually invisible and inaudible call as well as its appropriate response are aided by priestly formation.

According to Pope St. John Paul II, priestly formation has four dimensions. They are human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation.² These four dimensions are applicable to both the initial (pre-ordination) and ongoing (post-ordination) formation of priests.³ This paper focuses on the initial formation whose “purpose is to form a priestly heart”.⁴

What is a priestly heart? It is to have a loving and compassionate heart like Christ the High Priest and Good Shepherd.⁵ This is what the whole initial formation process aims to achieve.

2.2 Synodal Approach

From its Greek origin “σύνοδος”, the word “synod” means walking or journeying together. In reference to the Church, therefore, it means the People of God journeying together with Jesus who is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).⁶ In this light, a biblical text that is often used to illustrate a synodal Church is Luke 24:13-35.⁷ According to this text, later in the day of Jesus’ resurrection, two of His disciples were journeying to Emmaus, when suddenly He joined them. In respect of synodality, three things could be highlighted in this journey with the Lord. Firstly, the two disciples enjoyed fellowship or communion with the Lord, which was climaxed in the Breaking of Bread. Secondly, they participated by listening to and dialoguing with Jesus and inviting Him to stay with them. Thirdly, immediately they recognized the Lord when He broke the bread, they set out on mission to Jerusalem to proclaim that He was truly risen.

Hence, communion, participation and mission are the three main pillars of a synodal Church as envisioned by Pope Francis. Thus, the Vademecum of the 2024 Synod of Bishops rightly states: “These three dimensions are profoundly interrelated. They are the vital pillars of a synodal Church. There is no hierarchy between them. Rather, each one enriches and orients the other two.”⁸ Consequently, a synodal approach to priestly formation should be characterized by communion, participation and mission. This is affirmed by the Instrumentum Laboris for the First Session of the Synod: “Candidates for ordained ministry must be trained in a synodal style and mentality. The promotion of a culture of synodality implies the renewal of the current seminary curriculum and the formation of teachers and professors of theology, so that there is a clearer and more decisive orientation towards formation for a life of communion, mission and participation.”⁹

2.3 Communion and Priestly Formation

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Cor. 13:13). The English word “communion” in this verse comes from the Greek original term, koinonia, which translates into Latin as communio. The Church has its origin in God’s grace and it is patterned after the communion of the three divine Persons. Thus, the Vademecum for the Synod on Synodality states: “By His gracious will, God gathers us together as diverse peoples of one faith, through the covenant that [H]e offers to His people. The communion we share finds its deepest roots in the love and unity of the Trinity. It is Christ who reconciles us to the Father and unites us with each other in the Holy Spirit”.¹⁰ Sacramentally, we are incorporated into this communion through Baptism and sustained in it through the Holy Eucharist.

What, then, are some of the implications of the koinonia for priestly formation? Firstly, the “communion” aspect of the synodal approach calls for a greater emphasis on the Holy Trinity as the origin, model and inspiration of both priestly vocation and formation.¹¹ Therefore, in both intellectual and spiritual formation, seminarians should be aided to better appreciate the divine origin of their vocation, to nurture closer relationship with the communion of divine Persons as disciples of Christ.¹²

Secondly, human formation should more keenly identify the communio-deficient areas of the lives of individual seminarians and address them with the view to enhancing fellowship in the presbyterium, with the religious and the laity.

Thirdly, in a research we undertook across nine dioceses in Ghana (2013-2014), it was realized that while almost all the respondents believed that the Church is the family of God, less than half of them experienced thesense of belonging as in a natural family.¹³ Therefore, pastoral and intellectual formation should pay closer attention to making future priests ardent agents of promoting fellowship among the faithful of Christ.

2.3 Participation and Priestly Formation

An important implication for our communion with the triune God and with one another as His people is the call to actively participate in the life and mission of the Church (cf. Acts 2:42-47). Participation is, therefore, “based on the fact that all the faithful are qualified and are called to serve one another through the gifts they have each received from the Holy Spirit. In a synodal Church the whole community, in the free and rich diversity of its members, is called together to pray, listen, analyze, dialogue, discern and offer advice on making pastoral decisions which correspond as closely as possible to God’s will […].¹⁴ Genuine efforts must be made to ensure the inclusion of those at the margins or who feel excluded”.¹⁵

The emphasis on participation in a synodal Church has several implications for priestly formation. Firstly, whereas the seminarian “is a necessary and irreplaceable agent of his own formation”,¹⁶ we agree with the Fathers of the Synod First Session (2023) that:

The Holy People of God is not only the object but is first and foremost the co-responsible subject of formation. The first formation, in fact, takes place in the family. It is here that we usually receive the first proclamation of the faith in the language – indeed in the dialect – of our parents and grandparents. Those who carry out a ministry in the Church must therefore intertwine their contribution with the wisdom of all the faithful People of God in a cooperation that is indispensable to the community. This is the first sign of a formation understood in a synodal sense.¹⁷

Secondly, our 2013-2014 study revealed that while as much as 91.3% of the priests felt that they adequately involved the laity in the decision-making process in the parishes, only 54.7% of the lay respondents felt they were sufficiently engaged in the process.¹⁸ Therefore, the People of God, especially, lay persons with the requisite expertise should be more involved in imparting to seminarians listening, decision-making and other leadership skills.¹⁹ Above all, future priests should emerge out of this extensive interactive formation as pastors who champion collaborative ministry.

2.4 Mission and Priestly Formation

After His resurrection, our Lord Jesus made it clear to His disciples that their mission (cf. Matt. 28:18-20) originated from His own mission (cf. John 20:21) and that of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:8; John 20:22-23). Hence, Vatican II stresses that “the Church is missionary by her very nature, since it is from the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit that she draws her origin, in accordance with the decree of God the Father.”²⁰

The missionary nature characterizes not only the Church and but also and more fundamentally the priesthood of Christ in which we share.²¹ Simply put, “No mission, no ministry!” Yet, many priests in Ghana today seem to have little or no missionary zeal. Whereas, for instance, the founder of the International Central Gospel Church, Pastor Mensa Otabil, has been able to establish over 1,150 branches of his “church” across the world in forty (40),²² many priests hardly attain the establishment of forty (40) “churches” by the time they celebrate their 40^th anniversary of ordination. No wonder and sadly so, the Catholic population in Ghana is dwindling, while the number of priests has more than doubled in the past forty (40) years.

Mission, therefore, cannot continue to be a mere flavour or an aroma in the formation of future priests. It should be the very substance of priestly formation. That is, the purpose and dimensions of formation should be more mission-orientated in such a way that future priests become true disciples of Christ with great passion for “winning” souls for Him.

Secondly, the traditional key agents of priestly formation, namely, the bishops, rectors, formators, seminarians, and pastors can no longer remain in their comfort zones. Pope Francis thus exhorts us: “Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries’ in need of the light of the Gospel.”²³ We should all be more missionary inclined than before.

Thirdly, the 2013-2014 study showed that only 11.7% of the laity felt empowered for the mission of primary evangelization.²⁴ Hence, pastoral formation, in particular, should be re-designed such that there is emphasis on forming future priests to become trainers of the laity in practical skills for primary evangelization.

3.0 DEVELOPING NEW AND CREATIVE PATHWAYS FOR MINISTRY IN GHANA

3.1 Priestly Ministry

What is priestly ministry? The International Theological Commission captures the essence of Vatican II’s teaching on priestly ministry as follows:²⁵

In the New Covenant there is no other priesthood than that of Christ. This priesthood fulfills and supersedes all the old priesthoods. In the Church all the faithful are called to share in it. The hierarchical ministry, however, is necessary for the building up of the Body of Christ in which this vocation is realized.

Christ alone performed the perfect sacrifice by the offering made of himself to the will of the Father. The episcopal and presbyteral ministry, therefore, is priestly inasmuch as it makes the ministry of Christ present in the effective proclaiming of the Gospel message, in bringing together and leading the Christian community, in the remission of sins, and in the celebration of the Eucharist by which in a special manner the one sacrifice of Christ is actualized.²⁶

Evident in the above synthesis is the threefold ministry of Christ in which we share: the prophetic or teaching, sanctifying or priestly and shepherding or kingly ministry.

3.2 Examining Priestly Ministry in Ghana Today

The quality of a physical pillar depends on its design, materials, builders, etc. Similarly, the quality of the three synodal pillars of communion, participation and mission depends on their design, materials, builders, etc. God has provided the perfect design of the synodal pillars as well as their most suitable materials, namely, grace, the Word, the sacraments, etc. If, then, the synodal pillars in the Church in Ghana are not yet solidly in place, we should examine the work of the builders. Priests are among the principal builders and their ministry is the work. We wish, therefore, to examine the threefold ministry of priests in Ghana today. This examination will be done by employing the strategic planning tool of SWOT Analysis. This entails analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an entity as well as its opportunities and the threats its faces. “Strengths and weaknesses are often internal to your organization, while opportunities and threats generally relate to external factors”.²⁷ Whereas the strengths and opportunities are favourable to realizing the mission or goals of an entity, the weaknesses and threats are detrimental to it.²⁸

3.2.1 Teaching Ministry

The teaching ministry consists of primary evangelization, the teaching of new converts, catechetical instructions, religious education in schools, homilies, ongoing formation of the faithful, etc. St. Paul captures the purpose and importance of this ministry as follows:

For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? ^… So, faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ (Rom. 10:13-14, 17, NRSV).

Hence, Vatican II rightly states that the ministry of priests “begins with the evangelical proclamation”,²⁹ which “must be nourished and regulated by Sacred Scripture.”³⁰ For this reason, we begin our examination of the ministry of priests with a look at the teaching ministry.

1. Strengths

The strengths of teaching ministry of priests in Ghana include the following:

• The conviction most priests have about their vocation (that they have been called by God)
• The goodwill many priests have to fulfill the ministry entrusted by the Lord;
• Adequate human formation of many priests
• Adequate spiritual formation of many priests
• Adequate intellectual formation of many priests
• Adequate pastoral formation of many priests
• The grace of ordination

2. Weaknesses

Some of the weaknesses in teaching ministry are as follows:

• Some priests have little or no passion for primary evangelization
• Some priests do not adequately prepare their homilies
• Sometimes, the preaching is abstract or inadequately applied to the circumstances of the lay faithful
• Often catechetical instructions are left almost entirely in the hands of catechists
• Often there are no systematic and comprehensive programmes in the parishes for teaching the various categories of the lay faithful
• Some priests have little or no involvement in religious education in Catholic schools
• Too much work load which some priests ascribed to ourselves. Here, we wish to mention what is known as “cementology” – namely, the disproportionate priority some priests give to building projects, to the detriment of their core ministry
• Some priests have become more of “event organizers” than preachers of the Gospel.

3. Opportunities

Some of the opportunities which priests can take advantage of include:

• The use of the social media and internet
• The use of radio and TV
• The printing and free distribution of teaching materials
• The use of plays or dramas
• The collaboration of lay persons who wish to be involved in the teaching ministry
• Home visitations for primary evangelization
• Basic Christian Communities.

4. Threats

Certain external factors threaten the effectiveness of the teaching ministry of priests. They include the following:

• Overt and covert persecutions (cf. Acts of the Apostles)
• Evil forces (cf. Eph. 6:11-12)
• Too much work overload assigned to some priests
• Proselytization by new religious movements through their radio, social media and TV programmes, in boarding schools and tertiary institutions, etc.
• Certain unorthodox Christian practices which are deceptively peddled as acceptable and beneficial Christian practices by the new religious movements. Often, such practices are due to some Traditional African religious worldviews which are contrary to Christian doctrines
• Socio-economic challenges of the lay faithful
• Emotional and spiritual problems of the lay faithful
• Prosperity preaching.

3.2.2 Sanctifying Ministry

The sanctifying ministry consists of the administration of the sacraments, prayers, etc. Here, we wish to consider only the Holy Eucharist, which is at the core of this ministry.³¹

1. Strengths

Some of the strengths of priests mentioned earlier on are applicable here as well. Here are a few additional strengths:

• Priests have the “power” to bring to reality all the vital elements of the Eucharist
• They have adequate formation to celebrate the Mass
• The talents of priests (e.g., good voices, musical skills, etc.)

2. Weaknesses

Some of the weaknesses are:

• Some priests have been affected by the Acquired Routine Deficiency Syndrome (ARDS). As a result, some merely recite instead of praying with the words of the text of the Mass
• Some priests celebrate the Mass with unconfessed mortal sins
• Some priests seem to presume that the congregation would participate fully, consciously and actively
• Some priests do not make adequate preparations for Mass. In particular, the new English translation of the presidential prayers and prefaces require that priests carefully go over them before Mass
• Sometimes the human weakness of some priests surfaces during the Mass, e.g. the “abusing” of the pulpit, being casual, picking a phone call or reading a message, talking to Mass servers during ablution (instead of saying the inaudible prayer), etc.
• In the concluding chapter of his book on Understanding the Mass, Bishop Osei-Bonsu gives us a “litany” of eighty-three (83) dos and don’ts.³² Many priests fall short of some of these dos and don’ts.

3. Opportunities

The opportunities for priests to faithfully celebrate the Mass in a manner which inspires true worship include the following:

• The talents of the lay faithful and non-ordained religious, e.g. music, reading, etc.
• The eagerness of many lay faithful and non-ordained religious to participate more fully and actively in the Mass.
• The good examples of the joyful worship of other churches. What can we learn from these examples while not going contrary to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM)?
• The good aspect of spontaneity during worship: what can we learn from it?

4. Threats

The threats to the sanctifying ministry include:

• Staged or dubious miracles and healings of the pastors of the new religious movements
• Commercialization of worship (e.g., the sale of certain liquids purported to be the blood of Jesus, etc.)
• The negative aspects of spontaneity; there is the need to make a clear distinction between entertainment and acceptable liturgical spontaneity
• Lack of an order of service
• The danger of an evil person contaminating the hosts and wine.

3.2.3 Shepherding Ministry

We prefer the use of “shepherding ministry” to kingly, governing or ruling ministry, as the other terms connote domineering (cf. 1 Pet. 5:3); and in some cases, they seem to account for clericalism. In the Old Testament, the Israelites saw their leaders or kings as shepherds (cf. Ezek. 34:1-2). Above all, they saw God Himself as their shepherd (cf. Psalm 23). What, then, were the qualities the Israelites saw in natural shepherds for which reason they called their leaders and even God as shepherds? They saw that the true shepherds were constantly vigilance, foresighted, fearless, selfless, patient, caring, compassionate, dedicated and responsible stewards. In addition, they had listening ears, encouraged participation and fostered togetherness among their respective flocks. The shepherding ministry, therefore, entails exhibiting these qualities while leading God’s flock (cf. Jer. 3:15).

Let us now examine the shepherding ministry of priests in Ghana in the light of the above:

1. Strengths

The strengths of priests include:

• Priests receive a divine mandate at ordination to lead
• They have appointments by ecclesiastical authority to lead
• Reverence and deference accorded them by the lay faithful
• Some priests have good leadership skills

2. Weaknesses

These include:

• Inadequate seminary and ongoing formation on leadership and management
• Some priests abuse their power
• Some priests lack listening ears
• Some priests do not exercise pastoral vigilance over the flock
• Some priests do not have compassion and patience to look for “lost sheep”
• Some priests are not often available nor approachable to their parishioners
• Some priests lack leadership skills for fostering fellowship, participation and co-responsibility
• Some priests are not transparent nor accountable
• Some priests are involved in cases of conflict of interest

3. Opportunities

These include:

• Synod on Synodality
• Personal ongoing formation on leadership and management, making use of some materials on the internet
• Diocesan ongoing formation on leadership and management
• Leadership mentoring

4. Threats

These include:

• Poaching by the new religious movements
• Affluent lifestyles of the pastors of the new religious movements
• Materialism – the syndrome of feeding on the flock (cf. Ezek. 34:1-6)
• The influence of Freemasonry

3.3 Developing New and Creative Pathways

Some of the proposed pathways for ministry in Ghana may not be new as such but a call to return to some good practices which have been abandoned, or to intensify those practices which are already in place.

To develop the pathways for ministry, priests should, on the one hand, take advantage of their strengths and the opportunities available to them, to foster communion, participation and mission by the entire People of God. On the other hand, they should, with the help of God’s grace, strategize to overcome their weaknesses and the threats to the synodal pillars. In what follows, the recommendations are based on only some aspects of the SWOT Analysis done earlier on.

3.3.1 Proposed Pathways for Teaching Ministry

Here are only a few proposals regarding new and creative pathways for the teaching ministry:

• To offset the weakness of their skewed involvement in building projects, priests should delegate them to those lay persons who have the requisite competence and integrity. In this way, while lay participation is encouraged, priests may have adequate time for the teaching ministry in order to advance the mission of the Church (cf. Acts 6:1-7)
• Priests should have in place systematic teaching programmes for Church doctrines and on other matters which confront the lay faithful in their daily lives
• Priests should make use of the social media and other means of mass communication to spread the Good News
• Priests should revive the practice of home visitation which is an effective traditional method of primary evangelization
• Through the use of the pastoral tools of Basic Christian Communities and Biblical Apostolate, priests should aid their parishioners to evangelize themselves as well as acquire the basic knowledge and skills to evangelize others
• The religious and lay persons who desire to be more involved in the teaching ministry should be identified, adequately trained, formally commissioned and appropriately remunerated for their roles in the mission of the Church.

3.3.2 Proposed Pathways for Sanctifying Ministry

We hereby propose the following pathways for the sanctifying ministry:

• Priests should spend adequate time in silence and personal prayer as part of their preparations for the celebration of the sacraments
• Priests should always be conscious of the fact that the liturgy is an encounter with the Divine, and so avoid the weakness of being casual or the danger of turning it into an entertainment or the threat of staged miracles
• The synodal call for participation should re-enkindle in priests the zeal to sufficiently educate the laity to participate consciously, fully and actively in the liturgy
• The synodal call to mission should inspire priests to celebrate the liturgy in such a way that those who participate in it may feel energized, like the disciples at Emmaus, to proclaim the Good News
• Social media and other means of mass communication should be employed to reach out to many, and create a “virtual church membership”, especially among non-Catholics, with the view to convert them.

3.3.3 Proposed Pathways for Shepherding Ministry

We hereby propose the following pathways for the shepherding ministry:

• In the light of the understanding of the Church as communion, priests should be shepherds who are more passionate about fostering fellowship among the sheep entrusted to them
• Priests should be more vigilant over the flock, so that the size of the earthly communion is not diminished, but rather increased constantly
• Priests should be more compassionate to straying sheep and patiently look for them
• In view of the synodal dimension of participation, priests should keenly promote co-responsibility and collaborative ministry
• Priests should aspire to always improve upon their leadership skills, especially, their listening, dialogue and accountability skills
• Priests should employ social media and the internet to shepherd their flock.

4.0 CONCLUSION

Your Excellency, the Chairman, my brothers and sisters in Christ, we have been considering the theme: “A Synodal Approach to Priestly Formation: Developing New and Creative Pathways for Ministry in Ghana”. Firstly, we considered a synodal approach to priestly formation, which is characterized by communion, participation and mission. Instead of the present practice of entrusting priestly formation to mainly bishops, rectors, formators, pastors and the seminarians themselves, this new approach calls for a more conscious and active involvement of the entire People of God in the process.

Secondly, having employed SWOT Analysis to examine priestly ministry in Ghana today, we have suggested some new and creative pathways for the threefold ministry of teaching, sanctification and shepherding. Though our recommendations have not been exhaustive, it is hoped that you may find them indicative enough to generate further reflections and more concrete proposals.

Finally, therefore, as this address is made in the context of the Theology Week of the St. Peter’s Seminary, may the reflections in the course of this week, as well as further deliberations and strategic planning in the course of the year, result in a more participatory and more impactful mission-oriented formation process by the 70^th anniversary of the seminary in 2027.

Thank you!

1 Vatican II, Decree on the Formation of Priests, Optatam Totius, 28 October, 1965, no. 1; cf. Congregation for the Clergy, “The Gift of Priestly Vocation”, Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, 2016, nos. 11,34.

2 John Paul II, Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Pastores Dabo Vobis, 25 March, 1992, nos. 43-59; cf. Ratio Fundamentalis, no. 89.

3 cf. Ratio Fundamentalis, no. 54.

4 cf. Ratio Fundamentalis, no. 55.

5 cf. Pastores Dabo Vobis, no. 57; cf. Vatican II, Decree on Priestly Training, Optatam Totius, 28 October, 1965, no.4; cf. Ratio Fundamentalis, no. 89.

6 International Theological Commission, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, 2 March, 2018, nos. 3-4.

7 Francis, Address for the ceremony commemorating the 50^th anniversary for the institution of the Synod of Bishops, 17 October 2015.

8 Vademecum for the Synod on Synodality, 2021, no. 1.4; henceforth this document is abbreviated as Vd.

9 XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Instrumentum Laboris, For the First Session (October 2023), no. 59.

10 Vd. 1.4.

11 cf. Congregation for the Clergy, Directory for the Ministry and the Life of Priests, New Edition, 2013, no. 3.

12 XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, First Session (4-29 October 2023), Synthesis Report, nos. 14b, d.

13 John Kobina Louis, Restructuring for Greater Participation in the Life and Mission of the Church (Accra: Wrenco Press, 2015), p. 109.

14 Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, no. 67-68.

15 Vd. 1.4.

16 Pastores Dabo Vobis, no. 66; cf. Ratio Fundamentalis, no. 53.

17 First Session, Synthesis Report, no. 14c; cf. Instrumentum Laboris, For the First Session, no. 59.

18 Louis, Restructuring, pp. 102-3.

19 First Session, Synthesis Report, no. 14e.

20 Vatican II, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity, Ad Gentes, 7 December 1965, no. 2.

21 Directory for the Ministry and the Life of Priests, nos. 8,16-17.

22 https://icgcfaithandmiracletemple.org/about-us/get-to-know-our/icgc# (accessed on 5 March, 2024)

23 Francis, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, 24 November 2013, no. 20.

24 Louis, Restructuring, pp. 115.

25 Vatican II, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis, 7 December 1965, nos. 1,4-6.

26 International Theological Commission, The Priestly Ministry, 1970, nos. 2-3.

27 https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm; accessed on 27 January, 2017.

28 cf. ‘SWOT Analysis: Strategy Skills’, www.free-management-ebooks.com 2013, fme-swot-analysis.pdf, p. 8 (accessed on 27 January, 2017).

29 Presbyterorum Ordinis, nos. 2, 4.

30 Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, 18 November 1965, no. 21.

31 cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church (Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994), no. 1324.

32 Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Understanding the Mass: Historical, Biblical, Theological and Liturgical Perspectives (Takoradi: St. Francis Press, 2016), pp. 295-305.