On the way towards the General Chapter 2009

The Commission met for the first time from 3 to 10 January 2008 in Rome, in the Generalate House, for the purpose of finding a journey of preparation for the next ordinary and special Chapter.

In order to get the confreres and provinces-delegations involved, a questionnaire was prepared with appropriate questions on the four themes that were considered to be the most important in reading the present situation of Comboni formation today.
The chosen themes were: youth, educators (vocation promoters and formators), vocational communities and formative model. A fifth section was left open to any other reflection or proposal.

The replies received from the provinces, delegation, scholastics, formators and other confreres were 32.

In Limone, the Commission (Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse, Fr. Giorgio Padovan, Fr. Jesus Villaseñor, Fr. Stephane Kamanga, Fr. Luis Alberto Barrera Pacheco, Bro. Marco Binaghi, Fr. Girolamo Miante), in the presence and with the precious support of the assistant general Fr. Odelir José Magri, was able to prepare a synthesis of these precious contributions. The result was the present document which, while appreciative of the journey of these past years, invites us to deepen some of the issues that have been presented to the next Chapter.

An important intuition was that of linking the educative model (which we are trying to implement in the various stages of formation and which finds its sources of inspiration in the Comboni documents of the Rule of Life, Ratio Fundamentalis, Review of Formation) with the mission journey we are rediscovering in the Ratio Missionis.

This document suggests new formulations and changes in the Ratio Fundamentalis which have emerged in the reflection that the Commission shared during the meeting in Limone.

Comboni Press
Foto. Corso per formatori Pesaro.