My Years as a Seminary Formator
By the late Rev Fr Pierre Barthoulot (adapted from CatholicNews May 2000)
The late Rev Fr Pierre Barthoulot, who returned to the Lord on 25 July 2004, was the Rector of the then St Francis Xavier Minor Seminary for 25 years until 1971. He was the parish priest of the Church of the Holy Family for five years, from 1972-77 and of the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for 18 years, from 1980-98. His last days were spent serving the Church of St Joseph, Victoria Street. A Paris Foreign Missionary (MEP) priest, he arrived three years after his ordination in Singapore in 1946. He was only 30 years old. Fr Bartoulot shared the following experiences as a seminary formator with CatholicNews in May 2000.
Rector of Minor Seminary
The Minor Seminary was established in 1925 but was closed during the Japanese Occupation. I was assigned to restart the Minor Seminary in 1949 but I started to live there since1946. I took three years to prepare some candidates who were then learning English. Fr Leo Lee, elder brother of Fr Cyril John Lee, was the first local seminarian. The seminary functioned like a private junior college because the boys who came in had their high school education besides spiritual formation. We helped them to prepare for higher certificates (equivalent to A-level) with 11 subjects, including Latin, Bible studies, etc. Among those who received full certificates were Fr Nicholas Chia and Fr Robert Balhetchet.
The seminarians stayed in the minor seminary from Secondary Four to 'A' level, after which they went to Penang College General for Philosophy and Theology. There were newcomers every year, up to 50 from Borneo, Penang and Singapore. That time, there was only one diocese covering Penang, Borneo and Singapore. It was headed by Bishop Michael Olcomendy. Ten of my former students have become bishops and 45 have become priests in Singapore, Malaysia and Borneo. I was the teacher, administrator, doctor and many others. We were a self-supporting community and had only one cook. From 1955 onwards, the Minor Seminary catered only to Singaporeans as Penang and Borneo established their own Major Seminaries.
Vocations then and now
When I arrived in Singapore, there were no Religious orders involved in the pastoral ministry except for the Redemptorists, whose first local priest was Fr Paul Pang. Now we have many Religious orders.
There are vocations in Singapore, both diocesan and religious. The religious include Franciscans, Carmelites, Jesuits, Redemptorists. The Dominicans have just arrived, they may also pick up a few vocations. For some people, Religious life is better than diocesan life. They are guided by the charism of their community. As Religious, they are under the authority of their Religious Superior. The difficulty of being a Religious in a diocese is that the Superior can move him out to serve in other countries, and the bishop can't do anything about that.
Missionary Societies are different from religious orders. We MEP, CICM (Scheut Missionary) and Sacred Heart fathers are like diocesan priests who submit to the authority of the bishop, who can assign us to various ministries in the diocese. We were founded to help establish the local clergy, not to replace them. When MEP priests came to Singapore, the first thing they did were to look out for local vocations and train young men willing to become diocesan priests. Bishop Olcomendy was the last MEP bishop. After him was Archbishop Gregory Yong. When I left the Minor Seminary, Mgr Francis Lau, my former student, became the first diocesan priest to become Rector.
Formation of seminarians
Young people are very much affected by the development of society. They say, "I can't talk to my grandfather, we don't speak the same language." The boy has a telephone in his pocket, but the grandfather did not even think about having a telephone in his house! That is why the seminary should train men for the society of today. Don't say to them, "When I was young, I did not argued, I just obeyed.” We cannot look through the eyes of the olden days because then we had less resistance from society. When the Church spoke everybody said, "Amen". Now, when the Church speaks, they challenge you.
Priests should be trained to be apostles with sincere faith. By their way of life and example, they must be able to show that they believe what they say. That should not prevent them from having handphones or cars, provided they use these for the kingdom of God, and not for their own satisfaction. They must have a very sincere and deep dedication as priests.
My priesthood and my ministerial principle
I became a priest because I wanted to be a missionary. In my family, every generation produced a priest. I did not want to stay in the parish. I was born in Eastern France, near the Swiss border, there were 1,000 priests in the diocese. I chose a society which sent their priests to Asia, so I joined the MEP. I did not ask to come here but I was sent. I did not ask to be assigned to the seminary because I never thought that I would be the right man for the seminary but I was there for 25 years.
When you obey God through your superior, you don't make mistakes. There is a reflection I wrote regarding my priesthood: “To obey is not enough to do what obedience commands. It is necessary to do it without reasoning about it. Be convinced that whatever is commanded is the best thing that can be done. We are naturally inclined to command and often unwilling to obey. Yet it is certain that to obey is more advantageous that to command."