Missionary Orientation
From the outset, St. Charles Seminary has been a missionary Seminary dedicated to the training of mission-minded pastors for the needs of the Hindi-speaking dioceses of the Church in North India. It seeks to train priests who will courageously stand up for truth and justice and who, being sensitive and attentive to the workings of the Holy Spirit in the lives and cultures of people, will be ready to inculturate themselves into new socio-cultural situations, engage in dialogue with people who belong to other faith-traditions and collaborate with people of good will in working for justice, peace and integrity of creation. This is the challenge that St. Charles Seminary has undertaken and in accordance with which it seeks to form its students.
The basic formation course imparted in the Seminary integrates the different dimensions of priestly life into one holistic programme, namely, the human, spiritual, academic and apostolic/pastoral dimensions. The Seminary programme incorporates all that is of permanent value in the plans and charters of priestly formation that have been issued by the Holy See and the Catholic Bishops Conference of India.
Many programmes and opportunities are offered by the different departments of St. Charles Seminary to help a seminarian develop his human virtues, spiritual resources, academic abilities and pastoral skills. Each student is invited to avail of these opportunities with freedom, generosity and responsibility, so that he can prepare himself in the best possible way for his ministry as a missionary priest.
The General Formation Programme
The formation programme of St. Charles Seminary provides ample opportunities for a seminarian to achieve an all-round development: physical, emotional, spiritual, academic and apostolic/pastoral.
Physical health is given great importance. All seminarians and many members of the staff take part daily in outdoor games and exercise. Importance is also given to emotional growth and the building up of healthy human relations in community. To foster communication and community, the languages to be spoken in the seminary are Hindi, Marathi and English. Other languages are to be strictly avoided as their use can easily give rise to communalism and division, and become an obstacle to unity and harmony in the seminary community.
The periodic cultural activities, the literary associations, other organizations, social service groups and other extra-curricular activities provide for the cultural development, the acquisition of skills and talents and the blossoming of the potentialities of our seminarians.
Spiritual Formation
Spiritual formation is accorded a central place in our seminary formation programme. A priest is called first of all to be a holy person who has met God and can share his God-experience with his brothers and sisters. Hence during his training period, a seminarian is invited to lay a solid spiritual foundation on which he can build a vibrant spiritual life. Having answered God’s call to follow Christ more closely, he is to give himself ever more generously to the demands of the priestly life, so that he can be seen by people first of all as a man of God, a man of prayer, a holy man.
St. Charles Seminary emphasizes in a special way the spiritual life of our seminarians. Much stress is placed on silence without which prayer and study are impossible. Also, special importance is given to the life of prayer, personal and communal, private and liturgical. The daily meditation and spiritual reading, the daily Eucharist and visits to the Blessed Sacrament, the weekly spiritual conference and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, the frequent reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the monthly recollection and holy hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual direction and the annual retreat, help a seminarian to grow in the life of the Spirit. He is to be and seen to be a holy man of God.
Apostolic/Pastoral Formation
Having a strong missionary orientation, St. Charles Seminary lays much stress on apostolic/pastoral formation. Priests, as men of God, are called to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. They are called to be evangelical men. Hence our seminary places a strong emphasis on the apostolic and pastoral formation of its seminarians.
A gradated programme of apostolates, beginning with the social, and progressively advancing to various forms of pastoral ministry, is made available to our seminarians from the first year of philosophy to the final year of theology. Social apostolates, such as conscientization programmes, slum upliftment, building of houses, running free tuition classes for poor children, form part of the apostolic formation programme of our seminary. Once a week the students of theology engage in pastoral ministry in parishes, schools, hospitals and other institutions, slums and villages in and around Nagpur.
Once a year each theologian spends a month doing pastoral ministry in his own diocese or in any other diocese. The third-year theology students spend three weeks in Matradham Ashram, Varanasi. This gives them a first-hand knowledge and experience of the real-life situations and pastoral needs of people. It also helps to form them into a courageous apostle, zealous evangelist and caring pastor.
Academic Formation
The academic programme in St. Charles Seminary spans a period of eight years. The first three years are spent in the seminary studying philosophy. Alongside philosophy, a seminarian completes the Bachelor of Arts Degree at the Diocesan University College of St. Francis de Sales on the same Seminary Hill campus. At least one year of pastoral experience (regency) follows. Then four years of theology. The students of theology who qualify are awarded the Bachelor of Theology Degree from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Rome. Others obtain the Diploma in Theology granted by St. Charles Seminary.
The new, modern, computerized library is well equipped, well stocked and constantly updated for research in philosophy and theology. The Staff and students have access to the library.
The credit system of courses, which is in place, operates as follows. A credit comprises fifteen lectures and is allotted 25 marks. A four-credit course has sixty lectures and is allotted 100 marks. To pass in an examination, a student must obtain at least 40% marks. Some courses are evaluated according to a grading system which is as follows: A+ = 90-100, A = 80-89, B+ = 70-79, B = 60-69, C+ = 50-59, C = 40-49, D+ = 30-39, D = 20-29, and D- = 1-19. The mode of examination and evaluation of courses is left to the professor and students. Assignments, term papers, class presentations, research work, written examinations are included in the requirements for evaluation of a course.
With the approval of the Dean courses conducted outside the seminary may be recognized as equivalent to the courses conducted in the seminary.
An Intensive Orientation Course is given to students of the first year of philosophy to initiate them into life in St. Charles Seminary. Also, several skill courses are offered to our seminarians to help them develop their personality and talents.
