The Men Who Are Forming Our Future Priests

by Daluxolo Moloantoa · October 13, 2023

Main: Aerial photo of St John Vianney Seminary in Waterkloof, Pretoria, taken by Fr Mlungisi Mabe. Left: Vice-rector Fr Aaron Gabela at Mass during Lent this year. Right: Fr Wellington Ncedo Siwundla during his installation as rector of St John Vianney Seminary in February.

In February, Frs Wellington Ncedo Siwundla and Aaron Gabela were installed as rector and vice-rector of St John Vianney National Seminary. Daluxolo Moloantoa spoke to the two priests who, working with their staff, lead the training and formation of future priests.

The training of our diocesan seminarians is guided by the mission statement of St John Vianney National Seminary in Pretoria: “To provide the local Church with humanly mature, prayerful, intellectually equipped, pastorally formed priests who are passionately committed to serve as witnesses to Christ, the Good Shepherd.”

It is a mission which the seminary’s new leadership has committed itself to pursuing with vigour, sensitivity and passion, working as a team. Fr Wellington Ncedo Siwundla is St John Vianney’s rector, and Fr Aaron Gabela his vice-rector. They were appointed to their positions in December last year, announced by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelisation, and formally installed at a Mass on February 19. As rector, Fr Siwundla succeeded Fr Masilo John Selemela, who had been appointed auxiliary bishop of Pretoria in June 2022.

The news of the appointments might have come as a surprise for both priests, but it was not unexpected. Both Frs Siwundla and Gabela can be considered “old hands” at the institution, and they know the inner workings of the seminary intimately.

They even knew it as seminarians. Both took their final steps to becoming priests through studies at St John Vianney. Between various periods of pastoral service in different parts of South Africa and further studies in Rome, both found their way back to the seminary before they were appointed to lead it.

Fr Siwundla hails from a small village in the Eastern Cape diocese of Mthatha. He joined the staff of the national seminary 2010 as a formator before going to Rome for further studies in 2012. He rejoined the seminary in 2015, and was appointed to head the liturgy and pastoral department. He celebrated 15 years as a priest on December 1.

Late last year, Fr Siwundla received a call from Bishop Vincent Zungu of Port Elizabeth, the chair of the SACBC’s Seminaries Commission. “When he delivered the message that I had been appointed as the new rector of the St John Vianney Seminary, I could not respond for a few seconds. I was asking myself: Was there no other to take on this noble responsibility?” Fr Siwundla told The Southern Cross.

Appointment came as a surprise

Fr Gabela also has a rural background. He was born on a farm near Wartburg in the archdiocese of Durban. He became a formator, lecturer and communications officer at the seminary in June 2021. He went on to become its financial administrator in February 2022.

Like Fr Siwundla, he was also startled by the news of his appointment. “I was taken by surprise by the news, because there are so many more capable and experienced priests who were already part of the seminary. However, I welcomed the challenge and undertook to take it on with my complete dedication,” Fr Gabela said.

Fr Siwundla sees himself as a priest who is totally dedicated to the maintenance of order, and has set himself the goal of accomplishing this at the seminary. He also places a strong emphasis on liturgical integrity as part of the necessities of moulding an upstanding priest.

“My three years of further studies in liturgy in Rome opened me up to an intense understanding of where things started and ended in this respect. It made liturgy to be more interesting and practical for me,” he said. “Liturgy is about order and principles. Liturgical rites begin in a certain way and end in a certain way. This trains one to have order in his life and surroundings. I will therefore maintain order and procedures in the seminary.”

Fr Gabela also took up the opportunity to further his studies overseas, on the advice of his archbishop at the time, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier. “I thought that I would land up in England, but instead it was in Rome that I found myself,” he recalls. “I had been asked to take up further studies in primary formation and leadership. I found myself doing more than this, and went on to take up a licentiate in formation and leadership.”

Serving others and altruism are uppermost in Fr Gabela’s mind for his tenure as vice-rector. “I would like to form priests who have modelled their priesthood on Christ, who came to serve and not to be served. I hope to form priests who carry the virtues of ubuntu, and are responsible and competent in their ministry,” he said.

Progress and challenges

The first six months of the new leadership were marked by a rapid growth in the seminary’s ability to go beyond its mission. “I have been truly amazed at the amount of progress which my deputy, Fr Gabela, and the entire management team of the seminary have managed to achieve,” Fr Siwundla said. “The amount of work is vast. But thanks to the strong team spirit among all of us, we have made it work exceptionally well. For this I thank all of them, including the seminarians.”

For Fr Gabela, “it has been smooth sailing thus far — except for the expected challenges that are inevitably present in any human endeavour”. Other challenges he sees include the need for funding to refurbish the seminary’s main building. “One wing of the seminary was refurbished before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, but due to the lack of incoming funds as a result of the pandemic, we could not go on to work on the main building.”

Another present challenge concerns unannounced and unplanned visits to the seminary, especially over weekends, by random visitors. “Some people arrive at the seminary on a Friday expecting to stay for the weekend to attend our Masses or to get a taste of life in the seminary. We’re very much open to this. However, we would like those with such intentions to arrange with the seminary office in good time so that we can also make the necessary preparations from our side, such as ensuring that the rooms are cleaned and ready to accept visitors for the weekend,” he explained.

Vision for future priests

For both leaders, serving at the helm of St John Vianney Seminary entails different but parallel ideals. Fr Siwundla wishes to “produce missionary diocesan priests who will re-evangelise the faithful. Prayerful, pastoral and academic priests who are well-informed and formed in human values.”

Fr Gabela summarises his mission thus: “I aim to make my contribution in the formation of priests who have a deep relationship with Christ. Priests with efficient pastoral skills to meet the needs of society today. I aim to lead by example in the attainment of these goals.”

For now, the training and formation of our future diocesan clergy is in the hands of these two priests and their dedicated colleagues at St John Vianney Seminary.

Published in the July 2023 issue of The Southern Cross