Philippines: Jesuit-run theology trains future priests to be "servants of Christ’s mission"

A Jesuit-run theology institute trains future priests to be "less self-referential and self-entitled" but more to be "servants of Christ's mission."

Based in Manila, the Philippines, the Loyola School of Theology (LST) strives to prepare diocesan and religious seminarians for the ordained ministry with an international and global perspective and outlook.

According to Jesuit Father Enrico C. Eusebio, president of LST, "They experience the Church as both 'particular' and 'universal' as they reflect on the Gospel of Jesus locally in the context of their parish, city, or country, but always with an Asian and global perspective and never too narrow nor parochial.

The formation of prospective priests also involves lay people, Catholic nuns, and others pursuing professional development in LST for their different jobs and ministries.

Eusebio states that LST offers theological formation to seminarians and priests in a more integrated environment of equality, collaboration, mutual respect, and exchange through their presence and active participation in and out of the physical or virtual classroom.

Though undoubtedly imperfect, theology is conducted in LST in a setting that allows priests-to-be to converse, listen, discern, and learn from voices and perspectives different from their own and their small ecclesiastical circles rather than in an echo chamber, he continues.

According to Eusebio, the method "challenges our future priests to become humbler and more listening, more "synodal," and less self-referential and self-entitled, servants of Christ's mission.

LST is dedicated to contextualized theological formation as an Asian and global faculty of theology. The structured Asian Theological Program guarantees ministry training for Asian settings and beyond.

The Vatican oversees LST, an ecclesiastical faculty of theology. It assists churches throughout Asia, the Philippines, and beyond in Gospel preaching.

The faculty aspires to theologize with the students in a profound, original, artistic, motivating, and occasionally unsettling way.

LST is one of the seven theology faculties in English that the Society of Jesus oversees worldwide.

LST was started in 1965 to offer theological education to students at San Jose Seminary, Society of Jesus seminarians, and students from many other religious orders.

It offers an exceptional venue for international students to study theology in an Asian environment and thereby encounter the rich realities of the region.

LST currently offers several courses, such as the Baccalaureate, Licentiate, and Doctorate in Sacred Theology, among others. -Santosh Digal