Psychological Assessment in Formation

Assessment is one of the challenging responsibilities of vocation and formation directors. Psychological evaluation has three primary goals: a) determine if the applicant or candidate is free from major psychopathological disturbance; b) evaluate whether the person’s psychological make-up and disposition is fit for religious life or priesthood, taking into account the candidate’s experience of living and working in the religious congregation or diocese, and; c) assess the reasons and motivations for the candidate’s entrance to the order or seminary.

Apart from screening candidates, assessment also aids in the formation process. Every formative effort involves human beings, therefore, it includes an element of personalization. The results of the evaluation will help formulate formative interventions for each candidate as well as the community undergoing going formation. Formative assessment is executed not simply to exclude candidates from ministry but to identify where the person needs help for healing before active ministry can proceed. On-going assessment of the candidate to religious life and priesthood is to help both the candidate and the formation team to discern well the call to priesthood or religious life. The continuous evaluation of those who have long been ordained and the fully professed is part of permanent formation. This is to determine what will be most helpful to the priest or religious as he or she lives out the commitment through the various transitions in adult life.

Helpful Dispositions of Those Initiating the Vocational Assessment Process:

• Community and team approach.

  Those in charge of vocation promotion and formation need to work together as a team to determine the specific goals of formation and to develop the necessary assessment tools to aid in their on-going assessment of the candidates. As part of the external forum, they need to develop their behavioral assessment tool to be used in their on-going formative evaluation of the candidate. They also need to develop the skills to conduct effective formative interviews (during individual colloquium) that are regularly done with the candidates. While vocational formation is primarily a spiritual task, the church also stresses that formation today is an interdisciplinary task. The church expects an interdisciplinary, mutual and on-going dialogue between the formators and the expert psychologists2. It is essential that these expert psychologists understand and appreciate Catholic anthropology as well as the socio-cultural context of the candidate or formand.

• Self-examination and commitment.

  Formators must take an honest look at their own beliefs about the candidate and their commitment to the candidate’s formation. The formation personnel must examine their own concepts of human development as they relate to formation for priesthood and religious life. They must also be very clear on the extent of the commitment they can realistically make to facilitate the candidate’s growth. Once this commitment has been established and the formation process proceeds, the formation team will also need to regularly evaluate their vocational assessment tools and ascertain if their structures and methods are formative or not.

• Respect for the candidate, the priest or the religious.

  As seminaries and formation institutes engage in assessment they are to maintain a proper balance between respecting the person’s right to privacy and ensuring the rights of the church to properly serve God’s people. The Code of Canon (1983) and the Guidelines for the Use of Psychology in the Admission and Formation of the Candidates for Priesthood (2008) provide helpful guidelines on how to respect the rights to privacy of the person. The experts in psychology involved in formative assessment need to be guided by the code of ethics of their profession.

Thomas Plante, “Psychological Assessment of Applicants for Priesthood and Religious Life,” Human Development, (Winter 2004), 45-48. Guidelines for the Use of Psychology on the Admission and Formation of Candidates for the Priesthood (2008)

Francisca is a Senior Associate at Emmaus Center.

This article was first published in “Formation in a Complex World” (Vol 1. No. 3, Jul -Aug 2011). Formation in a Complex Word was a series of brief articles featuring various perspectives on formation and psycho-spiritual integration by Emmaus Center.