Moshi Diocese at P.O. Box 3011, Moshi, KL TZ - Formation of Priests

·          7 years primary education (grade school)

·          6 years Minor seminary or secondary school (high school – English system: 4 years Ordinary level and 2 years Advanced level) - St. James _ Kilema, Moshi.

·          1 year spiritual formation (pre-college): St. Charles Lwanga-Karanga Formation Center.

·          3 years major seminary; study of philosophy, psychology, scriptures, spirituality, and liturgy.[Kibosho and Ntungamo Seminary].

·          4 years major seminary for study of Theology [St. Paul - Kipalapala and St. Charles Lwanga - Segerea senior Seminaries].

·          1 year pastoral internship or field work

·          Ordination as Deacon 6 months prior to end of seminary training

     Ordination to Priesthood 

 Moshi Diocese follows exactly the same system for the formation and education of her Seminarians to Priesthood.

·          Kindergarten and Primary [Grade] school take place in the candidates’ respective villages and towns. Currently, in Tanzania Primary education is free in the sense that the tuition fee is paid by the government, except some few private primary schools or English medium academies. Parents are to pay for stationeries, lunch and school uniform.

·          Those who want to join the seminary in view of becoming priests, present their applications to the pastors of their respective parishes. After serious scrutiny, the Pastor chooses 10 students among many for the three minor seminaries: St. James Seminary – for Moshi diocesan priests; Maua Seminary, for Franciscan Capuchin, and Uru Seminary, for the Apostles of Jesus priests. These 10 are given interview and written tests by the Rectors of these seminaries. In the end we normally get 0-3 students. St. James Seminary gets about 35-50 students as freshmen class.  This is a boarding high school, with two vacations in a year: June/July and December/January. After 4 years of training, students sit for Form Four National Examination. Those who pass with divisions I & II continues with Advanced Level high school for two years, after which they do Form Six National Examination. This ends their high school journey.

·          Those who pass with division I, II & III are admitted to Spiritual Formation Year in which they are given more time to reflect about their call and the nature of commitment they are about to make by going to major seminary.

·          After this one-year of spiritual formation, they are sent to major seminaries (Kibosho or Ntungamo) for three years to study Philosophy.

·          Then they continue with the seminary training in the Theological seminaries (Kipalapala – Tabora, or Segerea- Dar-es-Salaam) for 5 years of Theological studies [including field work or pastoral year] before being ordained deacons and then priests. While the parents are responsible to pay for their children while they are in the minor seminary [high school], the Bishop of Moshi Diocese is responsible to pay for the seminarians in the major seminaries [Formation, Philosophy and Theology].

The school fees for St. James Seminary [Boarding High School] for the 2009-2010 school year are $300 per semester or $600 per year. This covers tuitions fee, food, boarding and lodging. The cost of one seminarian in the major seminary [College level] is $800 per year. Moshi diocese has an average number of 38 major seminarians every year - but for the 2009-2010 school year, there are 64 major seminarians!

2009 SEMINARIANS HAD LUNCH WITH SOME SPONSORS AND FRIENDS FROM USA AND HERE THEY ARE SHARING THEIR SINGING TALENTS.