In a distinction that might be insightful, one person said that in the African seminaries, we are training clerics rather than priests. The cleric is one who falls back upon his privileged position and office. The priest is one who gives his life in service to God's people. It is questioned whether African seminaries should review, retrieve the history of Western thought and the Western Church or instead launch into the depths of their own culture and tradition and correlate Scripture and tradition with African culture, roots, sources, and riches. For the most part, inculturation remains an ideal, and Western theology and philosophy dominate.
Seminarians are young, growing, and maturing.
This takes place in the rather isolated milieu of the seminary. More healthy interaction with their peers, including women, would be helpful as well as specific courses or workshops that treat of psycho-sexual development. Celibacy surely will always remain a challenge, in Africa and elsewhere, but ways and means to help face and live it should be available. The social teaching of the Church must not only be studied and known, but also applications to the myriad problems facing Africa must be formulated and tried. The existing large, institutional, and often isolated seminary structures must be strongly modified to enable more integrated, personalized, responsible, family-style education and formation.