By Santosh Digal

Gopalpur-on-Sea: Students of a major seminary in Odisha, eastern India, have taken up the study of the latest Vatican document on priestly formation.

Aquinas College, managed by the North Indian Province of the Congregation of the Mission, has distributed copies of “The Gift of Priestly Vocation” to its students asking them to read and reflect on it.

“It is our earnest desire that our seminarians study the updated version of the document on priestly formation,’” college dean Vincentian Father Pratap Chandra Misal told Matters India December 11.

The Seminary is situated at Gopalpur-on-Sea, some 170 km southwest of Bhubaneswar, the state capital.

The Congregation for the Clergy released the 90-page document on December 8. It deals with issues of clericalism, homosexuality, and the protection of minors, among other things.

Father Misal said the purpose of distributing the copies to the seminarians is to help them understand the valuable information about priestly formation and to appreciate, nurture and cherish their vocation.

Established in 1955, the seminary has 101 students from ten dioceses of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal states, besides one religious congregation for the current school year.

“We have started to study the document so that we are able to appreciate the gift of our call to be missionaries, and face the challenges of the time and live it in a worthy manner interiorizing its depth with conviction,” said Bachan Singh, a second year student of philosophy from Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Archdiocese.