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By way of background, training for ordination in the Church of England in the 1960s consisted of attending a residential theological college (seminary) for two or three years (depending on age and whether or not the candidate already had a Bachelors degree). From 1970 mature candidates could train on a course for three years instead. This involved attending weekly evening classes and six or seven residential weekends and a residential week each year. From 1980 some dioceses ran Ordained Local Ministry (OLM) schemes. Most of the training took place in the candidate's home parish in order to prepare the ordinand for the task of being a priest in that particular place. Following ordination all candidates served a three or four year curacy in a parish under the supervision of a training incumbent (like an apprenticeship).
Formation as Integration
The de Bunsen report referred to theological colleges providing "professional training" like medical schools train doctors, or colleges of education train teachers.2 Clergy needed to be equipped for a threefold ministry of word, sacraments, and pastoral care, hence the suggestion of a threefold analysis of what a theological college must provide: adequate education in theology; "community formation," which is described as "the deepening of a man's prayer and commitment and self-knowledge in a way that is integrated with his growing grasp of theology"; and an adequate foundation of practical and "professional" training.3
The emphasis on the integration of spiritual life, self-knowledge, and theological knowledge recurs in the official documentation and becomes increasingly important in any discussion of formation for ministry. It was already evident in The Purpose and Scope of Clergy Training (1949): "The best Theological College is one in which the Chapel, the lecture-room and the common-room are all working together to...