Digital Faith Influencers Graduate in Catholic Formation Program, Eager to Transform Communities

“Many young people engage in bad behaviour then stop going to Church when they feel that they are no longer good Catholics,” he further said, adding, “This is an opportunity for me to engage the young people to help them reconnect with their Catechism and help them realize their vocations.”

To start the implementation of the concept he presented for his graduation, Dr. Kweku is engaging with first year students, who he says recently joined Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he is a lecturer in the Physics department.

Here, he has been helping them identify suitable Catholic students’ movements for them to continue journeying with other people with whom they share the faith.

Dr. Kweku says that in the wide sea of students in colleges and universities, first years struggle with finding the Catholic Chaplaincy. Many of them give up on going to Church when they fail to find a place where they take part in Holy Mass, he told ACI Africa. 

All the other students who underwent the formation that the Pan African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) designed are eager to transform their communities with specific projects.

PACTPAN designed the course, “Africa Digital Faith Influencers Formation”, to equip participants with skills to become faith champions among their peers living in what the facilitators of the program described as “digital peripheries”.

It was developed to empower young African leaders with the skills necessary to engage in digital evangelization, advocate for social justice, and provide impactful community service.

Sr. Josephine Bakhita, an official at PACTPAN’s “Church of Now”, who coordinated the formation program, told ACI Africa earlier this year that the training was also aimed at addressing moral issues and promoting hope among the youth thereby making them become more like Christ.

Sr. Bakhita said that the training was inspired by a meeting that the Pontifical Latin America Commission convened for the Youth, where Mons. Lucio Adrian Ruiz, the Secretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, and Fr. Stan Chu Ilo, a Research Professor in the Department of Catholic Studies at DePaul University in the U.S., among other theologians and scholars were the facilitators.

The Kenyan-born member of the Sisters of Mary of Kakamega (SMK), who lectures at Uzima University of Kenya’s Catholic Archdiocese of Kisumu recalled that during the meeting, the importance of exploiting digital platforms of spiritual formation was stressed.

The course covered seven modules. These were: Theories and application of the African palaver and synodal processes, Methods and skills for digital influencing, Principles and practices of Catholic social teachings, Transformational servant leadership, and Spiritual maturity for professional and personal development and discipleship.

Others were: The Church as a family of God, and Practical implementation of digital faith influencer project.

Instructors and other collaborators in the formation program were drawn from Uganda’s University of the Sacred Heart Gulu, the Zambia Catholic University, Institut de Théologie de la Compagnie de Jésus (ITCJ) in Abidjan, the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, and the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

In a September 13 interview with ACI Africa, Sr. Bakhita described the eight months of formation as having been “an amazing experience much as it was challenging.”

“Some of our students could not keep up with the classes owing to internet challenges and they had to drop out along the way. But a bigger percent of them managed to complete the training and unveil projects they will be engaging in in their Dioceses and Parishes,” she said.

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She lauded the high attendance at the graduation ceremony that was held virtually, saying, “It was amazing to see dignitaries including Catholic Bishops, Priests and Religious Sisters from various countries, who turned up to award the certificates to the young people from their Dioceses and parishes. This was a wonderful act of solidarity with our young people.”

Sr. Bakhita told ACI Africa that PACTPAN will soon be reviewing the first cohort to identify the areas that will need adjustment before it embarks on enrolling candidates for the second cohort in the formation program.

She lauded the graduates in the first cohort of the program for choosing to work on projects she said would transform their respective countries.

The Kenyan SMK member said that the participants’ concepts are simple and viable in that they would not require much resources to implement. “We will give them some little financial support to see the projects to their feet. We have also linked the graduates with mentors to journey them through the completion of the projects,” she said.

In his address at the graduation ceremony, PACTPAN’s Coordinating Servant Fr. Stan Chu Ilo urged the young graduates to be diligent in the implementation of their projects.

“As you form your project cohort, I advise you to put a lot of time into it. Be careful about the people you are bringing into your project just as you must be careful about the people you are bringing into your lives,” Fr. Stan said during the September 12 graduation event.