Justice and faith inform the vocation of Father Arnold Formbi SVD, who is one of seven men ordained on Saturday.
For Father Arnold Formbi SVD, vocation has always been about bringing together the desire to save lives and the desire to serve justice.
Long before he entered religious life with the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), those instincts took shape in his childhood in Ghana. In the parish where he grew up, he loved debates in school and lived out the conviction that every person deserves dignity and representation.
As a priest who completed cross-cultural training in Germany and served as a transitional deacon at St. Joseph the Worker parish in Wheeling, Ill., Father Formbi carries a spirituality deeply rooted in the SVD charism of mission through presence, dialogue, community and solidarity with the marginalized.
Father Formbi comes from a large Ghanaian family with ten siblings. Family life was vibrant and full, and so too was parish life, he said.
“I grew up in the Church,” he recalled. “I was always a Mass server.”
His parish pastor was intentional about forming young people. The parish became more than a place for Sunday worship; it was where children gathered to study, pray and spend time together.
“You go there to play, study, pray,” he said. “I was a ‘church boy.’”
He attended a parish school and grew up hearing stories about Divine Word Missionaries.
A meeting with an SVD bishop from Chile sparked even greater curiosity about missionary life. At the same time, Father Formbi’s own dreams were evolving. As a child, he hoped to become a medical doctor. Later, in high school, his strong sense of fairness led him toward law.
“My sense of justice grew stronger,” he explained. “Law became a passion.”
Eventually, he realized the priesthood could unite both aspirations.
“The desire to become a priest was a way to combine the two worlds—to save lives and serve justice,” he said.
That concern for justice remains central to his spirituality today, especially for those whom society often overlooks.
“Service to the marginalized, the voiceless and the poor,” he said, is at the heart of the Gospel. “Everyone deserves to have representation no matter who you are.”
Father Formbi said that the spirituality of the Society of the Divine Word became concrete through community life and missionary service.
In Germany, where he continued his formation during the 2020 pandemic, he encountered both challenge and grace. Obtaining a visa was difficult. Adjusting to a new culture and language tested him. At first, German seemed manageable.
“I was texting friends saying, ‘I think it’s fairly easy. The grammar is similar to English,’” he laughed. “A few months in, I was sorry I said the language is easy. The higher you go, the more difficult it becomes.”
Yet those years became transformative.
An SVD parish in Berlin offered him a vivid experience of intercultural missionary life, he said.
“The SVD community shaped and formed me,” he says. “The whole idea of community life, prayers, meals, celebrating birthdays and feast days. It was an unforgettable experience.”
Father Formbi also found himself immersed in ministries among people on the margins. He worked two days each week in a kindergarten and two days in a soup kitchen, run by the Sisters of Charity in an underprivileged neighborhood. The ministry served poor Germans, immigrants and people experiencing homelessness.
“There was medical attention, transportation, bus tickets for the homeless, whatever they needed,” he recalled.
These experiences deepened his understanding of missionary discipleship of not simply preaching the Gospel but also accompanying people in concrete human need.
Father Formbi’s theological interests also reveal this same missionary spirit.
While studying at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, his thesis focused on the New Testament Letter to Philemon, one of the shortest and most personal writings of St. Paul. Yet within the brief text, Father Formbi found profound questions about justice, power, reconciliation and Christian community.
Father Formbi became fascinated by the personal and pastoral dimensions of the letter.
“It was one of those books that kept me busy,” he said. “What Paul was doing there was such a personal appeal.”
Using close analysis of the Greek text and biblical methods of interpretation, Father Formbi sought to contribute thoughtfully to scholarly conversations surrounding the letter’s meaning and implications.
“I’m trying to humbly add my voice to the conversation,” he said.
He listens carefully. He speaks gently. He believes deeply in fairness and human dignity. And he sees the Christian mission as one of bridge-building rather than division.
At the center of it all is Christ himself.
“Christ did not run away from challenges,” Father Formbi said. “He embraced them.”
Father Formbi’s first assignment will be in Germany, where he will continue refining both his language skills and pastoral identity.