Forming a Priestly identità

The question of priestly identity was one of the major concerns raised at the 1990 Synod of Bishop. The Synod considered evidence which shows that many priests experience difficulty in establishing a stable sense of priestly identity. In order to help clarify the exact nature of the problem, this work seeks to identify and evaluate the anthropology implicit in the documents of the VIII Synod of Bishops and the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Pastores dabo vobis. The theory of self-trascendent consistency is used as a framework for exploring the kind of maturity required for priestly identity; the work explores some of the intrapsychic dynamics that anhance the development of a stable and mature priestly identity.