Young Clergy Gather for Renewal Amidst Today's Pastoral Challenges

Kohima, 14 May 2025: With the theme “Walking together in our pastoral engagements: A synodal journey of the diocesan young clergy in the digital age,” the CCBI commissions for VSCR, Migrants, and Media have launched a four-day ongoing formation programme for young clergy from the North Eastern dioceses. Around 35 young priests from the dioceses of Kohima, Jowai, Guwahati, and Nongstoin are participating in this vital pastoral orientation, held at the Mount Tabor Retreat Centre in Kohima, Nagaland. The resource persons for the programme include Rev. Frs. Charles Leon (VSCR), Jaison Vadassery (Migrants), and Cyril Victor Joseph (Media Apostolate).

Most Rev. James Thoppil, Bishop of Kohima, highlighted the importance of continuous formation for priests, stating, “Just like other realms of life, priests also need to update themselves with adequate knowledge and skills to make their pastoral engagements more effective and fruitful.” He likened a priest’s formation to a knife that must remain sharpened, warning that without ongoing renewal, it may grow blunt and ineffective.

Rev. Dr. Charles Leon opened the sessions by outlining the rationale behind the programme, referencing Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis: “The younger priests will need to come together primarily to share and critically reflect upon the correspondence between previously acquired knowledge and presently lived experience, between theological principles and pastoral praxis... It is better that the young priests are assigned places in such a way that there is a possibility for personal accompaniment, to maintain the quality of their ministry” (cf. RFIS 83, 2016).

The four-day formation aims to foster renewal, learning, self-awareness, and a deeper priestly identity, while promoting companionship and effective pastoral action amid the complexities of today’s context.

By Dr. Charles Leon