Formation in the missions
Guidelines
for formation of candidates of the Delegation
I was asked by Fr. Malcolm to share
with you some reflections on formation, ideas which do not come much
from books but rather from what I experienced during last 12 years.
I will start from the word
“education”. As you all know well this word comes from the Latin
“e-ducere”, to take out from. This is an important concept
because it tells us that our work is not to put something in the
heads of our students but to make them discover something that is
already there and is there because God has planted it in them.
Another word similar to education is formation.
We tend sometimes to confuse it with “information”. Our task is
not to give notions, instructions but to give a shape to a matter
which is already there, which God has made. We are the instruments
which God has chosen to make the work he wants, for which he has
already prepared all the necessary material.
As a consequence of this idea we have
that:
- each formee (person in formation) is
different, has different skills, culture etc. and also a different
vocation.
- we do not have to prepare clones of
ourselves but help each of them to get in touch with himself and
there discover the gift of God
- our work as guide is necessary
because the material alone cannot find the right shape.
As I said each one has a different
need and a different vocation but there is, of course something
common otherwise it would become impossible and useless to have a
seminary. What are the elements which are common? Don Orione, when
presenting his plan for the so called “compagnia del Papa” said
that the purposes of the group were:
- the sanctification of the members of
the group,
- to prepare people able to work in
faith for the sanctification of those who would get in touch with
them.
I add that the two purposes above are
done according to the charism which God has given to the Church
through Don Orione, contributing, at the same time, to the
development of such a charism.
The 1st
consequence is that we cannot have en-mass formation. Of course our
students live together and community is a fundamental aspect of
formation. Of course there are classes to be given, but it is
necessary to have a personalized training in the sense that a certain
flexibility in programmes, timetables etc. is needed according to the
level and needs of the candidates; but there is also the need for a
real personal training done especially through personal meetings and
personal programmes.
We are dealing with students who come
to us with no experience at the young age of 16-18 and we consider
them “in formation” till they become priests at the age of 28-30.
So this personalization of the programmes must grow with their age:
it would be a little at the beginning and grow through the years.
There is a temptation to concentrate
all the formation during the novitiate because while studying
philosophy the students are very busy and not expert yet, at theology
they are already too expert and again busy in studying, and during
tirocinium they are spread in different places so not under our
control. This is a wrong idea of formation. A student of theology
needs formation as much as a postulant, and maybe even more, since he
has to take the definitive steps of perpetual profession and
priesthood, but of course a formation which is more mature and
suiting him.
It is like many priests who used to
think in a similar way: “Once a year I go to the retreat, fill up
my tank with spirituality, then go back to my work and during the
year consume the fuel I stored hoping it will last till next
retreat”. So we give to the novices as much as possible hoping the
input lasts long, then give a bit more at the time of perpetual vows
and ordination and then send them to the “real world as priests”
to survive. You understand very well that it cannot work in this way.
The apostolate is not something negative which consumes me but a
place where I can meet Jesus, where I can become a saint while
helping others to become saints. So all the years of formation are
moments in which the students have to learn something.
2nd
from here I take a second point regarding formation: this cannot be
segregated from the life of people, the reality of the Christian
community. Of course formation is a moment different from the
apostolate but it must include strong apostolic experiences. Our boys
must learn how to meet Jesus in prayer as well as in the people in
need.
The apostolate must challenge their
idea of “tomorrow”, help them to clarify if they really want to
live for the poor, the sick etc.
3rd
A third point is that formation is a holistic process, which means it
addresses all aspects of human life. Our young people come from a
society which is more and more confused about values, they often find
difficult to have ideals and even less a clear idea of what they want
to do. They learned from their families some basic social and
Christian values but they haven't tested yet to see how relevant they
are for their life. I mention 5 areas which are particularly
important:
We have to help them to grow
intellectually, morally and religiously, and this we usually do quite
well, but we must address also the social and the psycho-emotional
areas.
Often those who come to us have passed
through experiences of deprivation, economical and emotional, often
they witnessed violence and abuse, physical or emotional, mostly
perpetrated by people from their family or relations. These are
aspects which we cannot neglect if we want to form mature shepherds
for the flock of the Lord. These things affect very much the capacity
of the person to relate socially with the companions but even more
the capacity to entrust himself openly into the hands of a superior.
We can mention here the topic of the
vocational discernment. What is the reason which brought these boys
to our seminary? Maybe they are aiming to have a more comfortable
life, to have a possibility of studying, to have an emotionally
rewarding career (priesthood), the ideal of becoming saviours of
others which is often a way to repress the shame they feel regarding
their actual situation. All these reasons, which seem to be wrong,
are actually very normal and they do not mean that a person has no
real vocation. They are an enough reason to join us; it is up to us
now to show them better reasons which can push them as much or even
more.
7 years ago some sisters came to visit
India with the idea of starting there. One of them was shocked in
seeing that the candidates were so many and so young, she was always
saying: “How can these girls have a clear idea of vocation at that
age? How can they decide in a mature way about their vocation if they
are so young”. They didn't want candidates to be formed; they
wanted already mature and formed people to whom they had only to
teach about their founder. For that reason they gave up on India.
There are no readymade vocations on
the market.
Many people apply to come to our
seminaries and somehow we manage to do a certain screening beforehand
but no matter how good we are, it will never be enough. The real
discernment is done through the years in a long open and sincere
dialogue with the formator and the test of community and apostolic
life.
I met a congregation of sisters who
thought they had found the perfect formula. Every year they used to
accept 50 candidates and straight from the beginning they would tell
them: “In 6 months’ time (the Christmas holidays) half of you
will be left at home and half, the best, allowed to return. At the
end of the year 10 more will be dismissed and only 15 will be allowed
to go to the postulancy”. They thought they would keep the best but
actually they kept only the liars, the less alive ones and lost all
the skilled and active.
It is true that we have to allow
people to arrive to the novitiate only those who have reached a
reasonable level of maturity and some clear sign of vocation but we
cannot simply dismiss a seminarian just because we feel he is not
suitable. We have, towards him as well, a moral responsibility to
help him to mature and to find his way. It must reach a point in
which he decides to go away and he goes away with gratitude for the
help he received. Normally it is better to keep an active creative
person, though he may be challenging or a bit independent minded,
than a quiet adjusted person with no creativity, no enthusiasm.
4th.
There is one other aspect which we should consider. After Vatican II
there was a strong drive towards inculturation of the message. This
process has been done quite successfully in our environments, but
recently another aspect has instead become relevant and that is the
interculturality. It is not anymore the matter of inculturating our
messages but of forming religious with an open mind, able to deal
with people of different origin. Our communities are now really
international in their structure, and even our students meet, since
the beginning, companions of different languages, somehow even
different culture, then they go abroad for novitiate and studies, and
probably some of them even work abroad, like we all do. You
understand well that is not only matter of going along well with
people of different origin, but to learn how to share ideals with
them, work together, appreciate their contribution, start loving the
things they love, getting into their way of thinking.
5th.
Attached to this is the need of creating in our candidates the sense
of belonging or in other words the sense of family. I am Italian and
I will never stop being one; people understand it, but my family now
is the Congregation and my main concern is what the Congregation
needs and asks of me, even if, for that purpose, I need to give up
some aspects of my being Italian. How much am I willing to sacrifice
for my family? One thing is to be attached to your country, your
language, your food, it is another when those become an obstacle to
the work you are doing, to the good-functioning of your community and
apostolic life. We have to educate our students to have an open mind,
to understand that people may think in a different way and have
different values.
So we have to train them to discern
between the values which come from the Gospel and those which are
merely fruit of culture and time. Both are valid and good but whereas
on the latter I may sometimes compromise, if need be, but on the
first, never.
6th.
Last but not least, we spoke of the importance being among people.
Often priests have got the impression that they must be like those
among whom they live, meaning by that, adopting the lifestyle of the
society in which they live. All Vatican documents on religious life,
starting with Vita consacrata, and all Popes have always stressed the
fact that Religious must be among people like a provocation, a
challenging and questioning presence. Our three vows do not allow us
to live exactly like them. But this witness, so important for today's
society and so lacking, is something that must be taught now to the
seminarians, it doesn't come automatically and it doesn't start after
ordination. We have to train our students to sacrifice, to go without
things which are not necessary, to get satisfied with the “popular”
standard of gadgets, to care for things, to repair them. We cannot
expect them to do as priests what we have not taught them before. Of
course, while they learn they will look as well to see what we do in
this regard.
I have been long and messy. Let me
give some concrete indication:
1) Personal dialogue with each
seminarian. The frequency of this may change according to the level
of formation the top being during the novitiate.
2) Knowledge of the families, the
parish where he comes from, the environment he grew up in. Such basic
knowledge should also be transmitted to the formators of the later
stages together with a report on the candidate himself.
3) Challenging apostolic experiences.
Also for these the frequency and the quality may change.
4) Community moments of sharing and
discussion not only about the community matters but also on
activities such as apostolate, lessons, movies, trips and
celebrations, so that each of them may become an educative tool.
5) Involve as much as possible the
seminarians in the community decisions, let them decide on things
which are not essential like the way of running the house, manual
works etc.
6) make them experience not only the
work to do but also some responsibility in organising it and leading
it. Make them use and develop their creativity
7) Value and encourage the skills they
have
8) Develop their capacity of
interacting with people by participating in the life of the parish,
groups, family visits, St. Vincent de Paul society, etc.
The formator, through the years, has
to become a coordinator, a supervisor, an elder brother with whom to
deal, rather than an organiser or a teacher. In some cases the one in
charge of formation may even not be the superior of the community.
Fr.
Oreste Ferrari fdp
Rome,
July 15, 2014