Archdiocese to train counselors for priests
The Archdiocese of Cebu will train counselors and spiritual directors to help members of the clergy who are suffering from personal and spiritual problems.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said that clergymen assigned in the Visayas are in initial talks on the creation of a code of conduct for priests.
Both agreements were made following a three-day regional clergy assembly in Cebu City last week. Palma said it was agreed during the assembly that they should train counselors and spiritual directors to help priests in parishes.
While the archdiocese has its own counselors and spiritual directors, Palma said they want to train more and assign them in vicariates or groups of parishes.
In a separate interview, Msgr. Joseph Tan, archdiocesan spokesperson, said the appointment of new counselors and spiritual directors was made in response to various scandals involving members of the clergy.
Tan said that counselors and spiritual directors are important in the life of a priest as they can help him in spiritual direction and in cultivating priestly virtues.
Priests, he said, often overlook the need for counseling because of many factors, such as lack of time, lack of qualified people to provide counseling and a tendency not to seek help from another priest.
For him, the counselor or spiritual director can help a priest in reviving his love for his work and keep him in the right direction.
Palma also said he and other church officials who participated in the regional clergy assembly last week agreed on the creation of a code of conduct for priests.
But Palma said there is still a need to conduct further consultation with various vicariates under the archdiocese before a decree can be issued.
He said the the code will aim to strengthen accountability among members of the clergy.
The regional clergy assembly, held in Cebu last week, was attended by clergymen from the Archdiocese of Cebu and its suffragan dioceses of Tagbilaran and Talibon in Bohol; Dumaguete in Negros Oriental; Siquijor; and Maasin in Leyte./JKV