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Catholic Nun Proposes Training of Competent, More Specialized Formators in Eastern, Central Africa

Silas Isenjia

By Silas Isenjia

Lilongwe, 22 August, 2024 / 10:30 pm (ACI Africa).

A Catholic Nun has raised concern about a shortage of “competent” formators in the Eastern and Central African region, emphasizing the urgent need to prioritize specific professional training of personnel in the region. 

In her speech on the second day of the ongoing 19th Plenary Assembly of the Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA) in Malawi, Sr. Jane Frances Nnantamu said that the formators need serious training because they are “very essential in the vocational journey of the candidates.”

“Experience shows that the training of competent formators of religious is not yet of vital priority in the ACWECA’s system of formation,” Sr. Frances said on Tuesday, August 20 at the event that is being held at CIVO Stadium in Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe.

She added, “There is a serious lack in the practical training of formation of personnel, compared to the enormous effort put into intellectual training of teachers, information technologists or medical workers.”

The member of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Reparatrix (IHMR) said that incompetence among formators results from a belief that if someone is a "trained teacher" or holds a "degree in theology" or religious sciences, they immediately qualify to be formators without specific professional training.

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“This trend is not only false but it also stifles vocational growth in both the formator who is asked to offer what she is not equipped with and those undergoing formation who may not be helped to grow towards effective freedom which is necessary for vocational maturity,” she said.

The Nun who has nearly 30 years of experience in the formation of candidates for priesthood and religious life said “Formators too need a practical training that enables them to help candidates grow in their inner freedom.”

“Anyone involved in formation must have addressed her "immaturities," whether conscious or unconscious, and be progressing in embodying the values of the Gospel that she seeks to communicate,” Sr. Frances said.

ACWECA has partnered with the Association of Women Religious Institutes of Malawi (AWRIM), the host Conference, in organizing the August 18-24 Plenary Assembly and Golden Jubilee celebrations under the theme, “Transformative holistic formation for authentic living towards a deeper evangelization in the ACWECA Region and beyond.”

In her August 20 presentation, Sr. Frances emphasized the need for effective training of formators in the ACWECA region, categorizing the types of formators required into two groups.

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“One is a formator who is trained in the ability to recognize every dimension of possible difficulties and problems arising from both the conscious and unconscious dynamics of personality and is capable of helping formees not only to develop in their potentiality to internalize vocational values but also to enable them access specialized help where the need arises,” she said.

The second kind of formator she said “is someone who, over and above the first kind, can help candidates work through problems arising from unconscious roots.”

Sr. Frances who currently serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Psychology at the University of Kisubi, in Entebbe, Uganda said that the ACWECA region needs the kind of formators that “have worked through their limitations and projection or any kind of double message that could promote immaturity in the candidates.”

Silas Isenjia

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.

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