Feedback on National Seminary

7 January 2020
Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord


Dear People of God,


In 2013, the Bishops of the Semenanjung, Sabah and Sarawak decided to unify the two major seminaries, that is College General (CG) in Penang, and St. Peter's College (SPC) in Kuching. Our desire is to streamline and integrate the whole priestly formation process, as well as to enhance the mutual ties and collaboration - especially now that there exists a significant presence of Sabahans and Sarawakians in Semenanjung. The two major seminaries henceforth function as one National Seminary where the seminarians undergo Pilosophy studies in CG, and Theology studies in SPC.
We need your help as People of God to achieve our vision of forming prophetic and servant priests, community pastors, critical thinkers and theologians in the Malaysia context. Our goal is to:

1. Develop the seminary to serve the vision of the larger Malaysian Church, as yeast in society and to be a national institution of excellence;
2. "Cast wide the net," by networking widely and accompanying young people in new ways, together with our diocese vocation directors; and to help them discover and grow in their unique vocation stories;
3. Promote reciprocal understanding and accountability between the community and the miniterial priesthood, and strenghten the shared responsibility for the seminary and formation of priests.

To do this, we need your feedback to the following questions:

1. What kind of priests do you want to see in our parishes and dioceses, particularly in our Malaysian context?
2. Can you suggest some ways to help our seminarians to be formed, to achieve the above goal?
3. How can lay people be involved in the formation of future priests?

Please submit your reflections by 30 June 2020 to your parish priest or directly to the email: ryan@collegegeneral.org  Kindly encourage your Catholic friends to share their views too.


Wishing you the Lord's abundant blessing for the New Year.

Bishop Richard Ng
Bishop Chair for Seminary Formation
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia