Institute of Spirituality and Religious Formation

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://192.168.4.170:4000/handle/20.500.12342/180

Welcome to Sub-community

Browse

Start date: 1998Subject: search.filters.subject.Formation

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Mentoring in On-Going Formation
    (Tangaza University College, 2004) Aririatu, Evelyn Akuoma
    During my studies I constantly heard people talk about the ministry of mentoring, thus, my interest and choice of this topic. In this long essay I would like explore the meaning, the depth and application of this ministry. In the process of my writing, I hope to focus on mentoring and its place in Religious life after final vows. The reason for this is that, this aspect of mentoring seems to be neglected or overlooked by many religious congregations, concentrating, as they do, on mentoring only in Initial Formation. The other strong motivation for my choice of this topic is the fact that on-going mentoring was very much valued and encouraged by St. Julie Billiart our Foundress. From her writings I have discovered that, she spent most of her time mentoring her sisters during her lifetime. She encouraged and mentored our early Sisters in love and friendship. The success of this small group of women was due in no small amount, to her constant attention to their spiritual and professional development. Today I feel there is a need for our sisters to review, and reclaim this aspect of our heritage of mentoring. We need to read again her letters to her young sisters and allow ourselves to be once again inspired by her gift of mentoring. For the need of our sisters to have a spiritual and a professional companion in their life journey is still relevant today as it was then. These are the issues this long essay hopes to address. I will start with the definitions of mentoring, and will also look at the general foundation of mentoring, as it appears in the Old and New Testaments. Central to this is Jesus who is model and mentor par excellence. No discussion of the role of mentors could ignore its place in African Traditional Culture where it is a long established tradition and is intrinsic to the development of young Africans. Finally in the last chapter I will deliberate on the importance of on-going mentoring and make some recommendations. So I welcome all my readers to join with me in this reflection of my long essay on mentoring, perhaps my story may not be different from yours.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Discipleship and Formation: Comboni As A Model
    (2003) Besigye, Christopher
    This essay argues that to become a disciple, one should be willing to listen, learn and be with the Master. What we have found challenging is to go beyond our human limits and abandon ourselves into the hands of the Master. This helps the disciples to follow the Master in facing whatever difficulties and problems in their Christian life. Daniel Comboni an ideal disciple challenges us in his life to be faithful disciples. Religious formation should help the Candidates to be themselves, and to avoid pretence. This enables them to grow to Christian and religious maturity. This work is divided into five Chapters. In Chapter One, we explain the terms disciple, and discipleship with emphasis on formation in the formation house. Secondly, we also present Daniel Comboni and Comboni Missionaries. The second Chapter deals with discipleship in the Bible. We underline discipleship and the formation of disciples in both the Old and the New Testaments. We conclude this Chapter with the cost of discipleship. The third Chapter presents Comboni as a model of discipleship, his call, and his cost of discipleship and as an ideal disciple for the Christians. This is followed by Chapter four, which deals with the formation of Comboni Missionaries and the challenges of our formation. The fifth Chapter presents the summary of the previous Chapters with proposals and suggestions regarding the formation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Jesus as Model of Leadership in Religious Formation
    (Tangaza University College, 2001-03) Jilala, Veronica
    I believe that each one of us has experienced leadership in one-way or another. For example, if you are an elder brother or sister among your brothers and sisters in your family, you may have had the experience that in the absence of your parents, you were told to look after them. Sometimes in school, you may have been among the student leaders, or maybe as a class representative. All these are ways of experiencing leadership. My own experience of leadership from my culture is so different to some extent from what I have observed and experienced in religious life. Leadership that directs faith to God takes the whole being of a person as flesh and spirit. This led to my desire to develop and see how someone could become a good leader especially in religious formation and on the leadership of Jesus Christ. I know the topic is very broad, and I would not claim to exhaust it. So I will be rather selective. The paper is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is briefly explained what is a religious formation, its stages, purpose, process and who is a formator with her/his formees. Then, I will sketch the challenges, problems in the process of formation and necessary skills for formator to exercise effectively. The second chapter deals in leadership of Jesus Christ as a model where Christian leadership is rooted. I will approach it by emphasizing the origin, and modality of Jesus' leadership in the image of shepherd and servant. I will conclude this chapter with these characteristics that are rooted in love. The third chapter will point out Christ-like leadership. It will speak of the purpose of leadership as the growth of a person and community. I will analyse requirements for leadership that include willingness to be contact with God and seek wisdom from him. Lastly, I will summarize by sketching the attitudes of effective leadership in form of love, service, living and sharing.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A Pre-Novitiate Formation Programme Project For The Divine Word Missionaries
    (Tangaza University College, 2005-03) Lima, Carlos Vieira
    Formation constitutes an essential element of religious and missionary life. "The Church, together with Congregations of men and women religious, considers formation a top priority. As a result, much re-search, reflection, evaluation, revision and revitalization of formation programmes has taken place, not least with our own Society."1 The formulation of the vision and goal of formation, coupled with the structuring and re-structuring of formation programmes, pre-supposes a number of critical questions being asked by the Society. Who can be admitted to religious missionary life? Who are being formed? How are they being formed? What are they being formed for? What approach should be taken? What model? The structure? The over-all vision?2 It was in view of these concerns that this formation programme project was undertaken. The aim of this project is to design a formation programme that can offer a framework, which will assist those working in formation at this particular stage, Pre- Novitiate, as well as at other stages of formation in the Society of the Divine Word, in the Kenya-Tanzania Province. The choice of the topic was made based on two elements: the first one is my own experience in formation work in the Pre-Novitiate, since December 2001; the second element was the request by the Provincial Superior to organize a formation handbook containing all the levels of formation in the Province. As I work in the Pre- Novitiate stage, I was entrusted with the responsibility of designing the Pre-Novitiate formation programme I gladly accepted the task and chose the topic "A Pre-Novitiate Formation Programme" as the object of research of my project. This Formation Programme consists of five major sections. Section one starts with the issue of the nature of the Congregation, its aims and Spirituality. It spells out the aims, goals, nature, objectives and purpose of formation in general in the Society of the Divine Word. It also spells out the constitutive elements of the SVD identity, namely, Spiritual, Communitarian, Religious, Academic, Affective, Missionary and Physical dimensions. Section two focuses on the nature and purpose of the Pre-Novitiate stage and the essential elements of the rationale of the Pre-Novitiate programme. There are five areas or axis of formation considered essential to assist the candidate in his journey of personal growth and vocational discernment. These are: the Human, the Christian and Spiritual. the Religious and SVD, the Missionary, and the Academic formation. Section three occupies with the contents and the means of formation, and with some characteristic activities. Section four deals with the issues of those who are responsible for formation, the evaluation of the formation programme and the assessment of the candidate. Section five starts with the candidate's role in the formation process. It continues with some recommendations based on practical experiences and on the outcome of the research process/exercise. It is followed by the conclusion with few remarks and observations. In the end there is an appendix.