The Immaculate Conception School of Theology, Vigan City, Ilocos
Sur trains future pastors who will preach the Word of God, minister to
the sacramental needs of God’s people, build, guide and lead the communities
thus nurtured on the Word and the Sacrament. The seminary educates these
future pastors to be knowledgeable, competent and perceptive professionals,
and forms them to be mature men, prayerfully dedicated to God and apostolically
committed to His kingdom.
The seminary prepares, evaluates, judges and recommends candidates for
the diocesan priesthood for the Archdioceses and Dioceses of the ecclesiastical
provinces of Northern Luzon.
The seminary forms and educates seminarians according to the goals and
aims, the policies and regulations of the Church and of the seminary.
The seminary is guided by the spirit of the Second Plenary Council of
the Philippines in January 1991. In line with the Council’s call for a
Community of Disciples, following the Lord Jesus in His ministry to all,
especially to the poor, we orient our community activities, our apostolate
and studies towards the formation of Basic Ecclesial Communities both among
ourselves and in our surroundings. Pertinent to seminary formation, the
Council decrees:
“The Second Vatican Council reminds us that the formation of priests
is of critical importance, because on it depends the success of the renewal
of the whole Church. The journey of the priestly vocation begins with a
call by Jesus, a drawing to his person, a desiring to do good to other.”
“Special attention should be given to the spiritual, intellectual, psychological,
disciplinary and pastoral aspects of formation. In these areas as well
as in the formation to a mature socio-affective and healthy sexuality,
Priest-formators and selected mature lay members of the Christian community
should collaborate. Relevant formation given in our seminaries today should
take into account the depressing poverty of large portions of society,
the emergence of a concerned and fast maturing laity, the coming together
of numerous small ecclesial communities and the unmistakable basic hunger
of all for the Spirit.”
