Nairobi: A new group of 22 assessors has been certified to administer the Priestly and Religious Vocation Assessment Test and the Priestly and Religious Vocation Assessment Interview after completing a five day intensive training in Nairobi.
The formation was held from February 2 to 6 at the Nairobi Campus of the Psycho Spiritual Institute, a Catholic institution specializing in psycho trauma healing and part of the Lux Terra Leadership Foundation. The training was facilitated by Fr Joyzy Pius Egunjobi, developer of the two assessment instruments and Director of the institute’s Nairobi campus. Participants included clergy and members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life from Cameroon, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia.
The certification marks a further step in expanding standardized psycho spiritual vocational assessment in Africa and beyond. It builds on a similar training held in Nigeria in December 2025.
At the close of the program, Fr Joyzy offered a strong warning to the newly certified assessors. He reminded them that assessment must never become a tool of harm. “Do not weaponize it,” he said, explaining that the purpose of vocational assessment is awareness and growth, not exclusion or punishment.
He shared that his motivation for developing the assessment tools came from years of observing inconsistencies and late stage crises in priestly and religious formation. In some cases, candidates were screened out at advanced stages based on psychological findings that could have been identified and addressed earlier.
Fr Joyzy insisted that evaluation for priestly and religious life should not be reduced to a narrow psychological filter. Instead, he described it as a psycho spiritual check that helps formators understand who is being admitted and how best to guide their growth. The instruments are designed to track development over time. A candidate assessed at entry can later be reassessed to see whether there has been positive or negative change. This comparative approach, he said, supports responsible formation rather than a one time judgment.
Fr Gabriel Saleh Mathew of the Catholic Diocese of Katsina in Nigeria said the training helped him understand that assessment is not meant to determine someone’s vocation. He said an assessor should not use the process to decide the destiny of a candidate but to assist in understanding the person more fully. He described the assessment as covering biological, psychological, social, technological, spiritual, sexual and moral dimensions of the human person.
The five day program moved from theory to practical application. Participants were introduced to the structure of the tools, methods of administration, scoring, interpretation and professional report writing. They practiced in pairs, administering the instruments to one another and preparing formal reports. The final sessions focused on ethics and the responsibility that comes with professional authority.
Fr Joyzy cautioned that expertise can be misused, especially when church leaders rely heavily on professional opinions. He stressed that no single instrument should determine the direction of a person’s life and encouraged second opinions when serious concerns arise. He described the tools as aids that work alongside grace, pastoral accompaniment and communal discernment. Their role is to make hidden dimensions visible and support responsible decision making.
Fr Peter Foleng, a member of the formation team at St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Bambui in Cameroon, said the initiative responds to rapid changes in society. He noted that informal screening methods that may have worked in the past are no longer sufficient for today’s complex realities. He acknowledged that resistance is likely but expressed hope that continued promotion and collaboration would help normalize structured assessment in seminaries and religious institutes.
During the earlier Nigeria training, Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Oyo Diocese had also emphasized the importance of modern tools in discernment. He said that many real issues lie beneath the surface and require careful and competent evaluation.
Participants in Nairobi described the training as empowering. Sr Maria Luisa of the Comboni Missionary Sisters said she initially thought the tools were limited to priestly discernment but later understood their broader application. She said the instruments address the whole person and support growth in vocation, which she described as a gift of God lived in and through the Church.
Sr Sarah Bedebe of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus in Nigeria said the program was broad in scope and suitable for both priests and religious. She noted that formation must be holistic and take every aspect of the human person into account.
Fr Msofia Malata of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus expressed gratitude for the opportunity, saying he felt empowered to assist the Church in Malawi and Zambia.
The training also emphasized ongoing collaboration among assessors. Fr Darlington of the St Patrick Missionary Society in Zambia encouraged participants not to let the certification end with membership in digital groups. He urged them to organize meetings and share real cases to refine their practice. Fr Peter Foleng also warned against superficial networking and self promotion, encouraging the group to exchange experiences, challenges and lessons learned for collective growth.
The Nairobi certification was guided by the objective of raising authentic vocations and building stronger communities. The newly certified assessors are now equipped to evaluate candidates across human, intellectual, psychological, moral, pastoral and spiritual dimensions.
Fr Joyzy reminded them that assessors cannot solve every problem. Their role, he said, is to assist candidates in their journey toward a clearer understanding of who God is calling them to be. With this new cohort, the pool of qualified assessors able to administer the vocational tools with ethical rigor and pastoral sensitivity continues to grow, strengthening the Church’s efforts to foster responsible and authentic vocations in a rapidly changing world.