3 - General Assembly of Comboni Formators, Palencia 2011

The General Assembly of the formators of novitiates, Brothers Centers and Scholasticates of our Institute was held at the Comboni House of Palencia, Spain, on July 10-30. The warmth of the hospitality on the part of the province of Spain and of the community of Palencia in particular which characterizes this gathering, was balanced by the outside temperature: fresh weather helped the assembly and group meetings, the moments of personal reflection and prayer, the informal meetings that materialized. The reception and the joy of meeting together contributed to create a climate of involvement, research and of listening.

The participants were the formators of the novitiates, of the international brothers centers and of the scholasticates from Europe (Santarém and Casavatore), the Americas (Sahuayo, Bogota, Lima, Sao Paulo and Nova Contagem) and Africa (Sarh, Cotonou, Nairobi, Decameré, Namugongo, Lusaka, Pietermaritzburg, Kinshasa, Cape Coast), together with the members of the general administration and the provincial representatives in charge of the sector of basic formation from English-speaking Africa, Mozambique and Europe. We were also able to share a short time with the bishop of Palencia.

The group picture by itself shows the new face of the Institute: formators coming from three continents, from many countries, to form the young people the Lord is sending us, who also come from different continents and many countries. Interculturality was not only something over which we reflected, but also a lived reality, with its challenges, including the challenge of using languages that we not always and not totally know.

We shared moments of study, to delve more deeply into topics connected with the educational method of integration (Frs. Siro Stocchetti and Vincenzo Percassi), a more profound transmission of the Comboni charism (Frs. Joaquim José Gonçalves Oliveira Valente da Cruz), the challenges of today’s reality (the provincial of the Carmelites), interculturality (Fr. Palmiro Mileto). We had time to listen to those who share the responsibility of the Institute, in particular the superior general, and Fr. Testafye Taddesse and Bro. Daniele Giusti, Fr. John Baptist Opargiw, who helped us situate our service as formators in our current reality as Comboni Missionaries, with the potentialities and the challenges of the moment. We also listened to our young people, reflecting on what they had sent us in writing: if we often talked about them, we also just as much prayed for them!

In our conclusions we want to underline some points: the importance of a gradual approach and of continuity in the global process of formation, the values, the criteria and some practical rules for the use of earthly goods, the centrality of the person of the youth in formation and of the person of the formator, the involvement of all the members of the Institute in the task of formation, because we form as communities, and the revision of our structures.

For certain, we have a stronger awareness that formation  is a service “of sanctity for mission,” because it places at the center of all the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, holiness – the witness of the formator and the sacrality of the young person called to become “holy and able.”

This is also the reason why our days were punctuated by prayer, both personal and liturgical. In it we continued to live our discipleship, in order to learn to guide others towards the one Master!

Grateful to our Comboni family which supports us, we hope to continue our “mission” with a more enlightened awareness of our responsibility and with better suited “means” to offer this service.