The main objective of this project is to examine the interplay between political programs, missionary visions and technological capabilities that enable the circulation of religious elites through networks developed around the two national seminaries studied. To achieve this, research will focus on the recruitment of religious vocations, the formation of seminarians, the ordination of deacons and priests, and their eventual assignment for work in diverse locations.

The project will have an ethnographic and an archival dimension to trace the historical developments that brought the operations of the national seminaries of Sri Lanka and Singapore to their contemporary structures and dynamics. The emphasis is placed on how the Catholic Church conceives of and develops these educational institutions as key nodes in the formation of its own clergy. A Mobilities approach can offer unique insights into the contemporary and historical dynamics of these two institutions, challenging traditional models that assume a colonial-missionary unidirectional flow of Catholicism from Europe into Asia. A closer look reveals that circulation, networks and mobility were fundamental aspects of the schemes implemented by the Church to spread across South and Southeast Asia since the late 19th century. Although the circulation of seminarians, priests and ‘formators’ was usually coordinated and organized by European authorities, the mobility of both foreign missionaries and local clergy within Asia was undoubtedly more extensive and common than between Europe and Asia.