Divine Word Seminary
The formation program is situated in Tajimi and the Major Seminary in Nagoya. Postulants, novices, and aspirants to the brotherhood and priesthood have their appropriate programs, planned where possible in conjunction with a university education.
At Xavier House newly arrived missionaries, students, brothers and priests, are offered introductory courses in the Japanese language and culture. Foreign seminarians who take this course are then offered the option of continuing their seminary training in Japan.
About half of the seminarians at present, as well as many of the semainary staff, are non-Japanese nationals, and with all day-to-day affairs being carried on in Japanese, life there is a witness in microcosm to the internationality of the Society. But life is not only punctuated with new arrivals from overseas. Japanese seminarians also take part in the SVD Overseas Training Program (OTP) in which seminarians during their training spend a year or more in a foreign country to gain experience. At present seven Japanese seminarians are in foreign lands on this program.
Every year also the Major Seminary is host to an "Altarboys' Camp," a short summercamp for young altarboys from throughout Japan, during which they get to see seminary life from the inside. In some it may sow the seed of a vocation many of today's Japanese priests are "graduates" of this altarboys' gathering -- but for all it remains as an experience they cherish.