As Catholics, we are called not only to receive Christ in the sacraments, but also to bring Christ to the world. Consequently, adult Catholics need a further kind of religious education, one that prepares them to live as apostles, gifted men and women of faith who are called by God to shape the world they live in through their love and work. Every Catholic should receive formation. Good formation is the right of every baptized Christian and is critical to his or her fulfillment and effectiveness as a follower of Jesus. Formation is not the privilege of a few, but a right and duty of all.
Formation is never generic.
Formation is always designed around the unique mission of the person who is being formed. Clergy prepare in seminary for a quite different mission - ministry within the Church. Most of their time is spent working with people, and within a culture and structure that is essentially Christian. Apostles in the midst of the world need a formation that addresses the unique challenges of their calling. Since the laity share in their own way in the mission of the Church, their apostolic formation is specially characterized by the distinctively secular and particular quality of the lay state and by its own form of the spiritual life.