On September 25-28 of this year 2000, the General Council of Formation met here in our General House. Present: Frs. Bellagamba Antonio, Manuel Grau San Andrés, Pendawazima Dietrich Kihaule, Castro Gonçalves Ricardo, Benedetti Jean André, and Bro. López Fernández José Angel.

The agenda of the meeting included the main proposals of the X General Chapter concerning basic formation, and some observations made by the General Office of Formation to the Capitular Assembly.

I share with you here a synthesis of the themes discussed, and of the proposals that came out of the meeting.
This communication is for all IMC formators, and also for the Superiors of the Provinces.

I Propaedeutic Year

First of all, we have reaffirmed:
n The need for vocation promotors who truly and consistently keep in touch with the young people who are studying their vocation;
n The need for those same young people to go through a meaningful ecclesial experience in a parish, in some Catholic group, or in the IMC young people’s association, before entering the propaedeutic stage.

Here are our comments relative to this “period of adequate preparation that precedes the time of formation in the seminary” (see Pastores Dabo Vobis, 62):

1) About its nature:
n This is not yet the “seminary”, but an introduction to the IMC charism and life, to community life, to the knowledge of self, to the fundamentals of Christian and spiritual life;
n The propaedeutic lasts one year and is done in a place of its own.

2) The following are the specific formative dimensions of the propaedeutic:
n Academic dimension: spoken language, written language, introduction to philosophy, methodology, introduction to humanistic studies;
n Christian life dimension: fundamental points of the Creed, of the Bible, of prayer;
n Vocational discernment;
n Community life;
n Human maturity: forming in the young a sense of responsibility; developing in them self-discipline, the habit of manual work;
n The ABC of the Mission;
n Pastoral and missionary experience: in a parish or a mission, insertion in a mission on weekends, experiences that are distinctively meaningful during the year.

II Postulancy

As requested by the X General Chapter, this formative stage must be amplified and must characterize the whole year of philosophy.
It is necessary to help the students prepare for the novitiate by explaining to them its purpose and its demands from the human, psychological and Christian point of view. During this time, the professional contribution of a psychologist should be used.
The postulants must be prepared and formed in group; their formation must be harmonized with their studies of preparation for the diploma in philosophy; attention must be given so that their academic engagements do not oppose or diminish their preparation for the novitiate.
During the postulancy year, it would be good to have meetings of the experiential type with their future novice master.
Meetings should be organized so that both our novice masters and our formators in the philosophical and theological seminaries may exchange their experiences.
Right from the beginning of the formative process, and all through its stages, it is necessary to create and develop a climate of trust between the formator and the formandi. This climate must be developed in the whole of daily life, but especially in a direct formative dialogue. This way, the style of discourse of the young will be understood in an easier fashion.

III Formators

All formators must be given the chance of working previously in the missions.
For all formators, a time of specific preparation and requalification must be programmed
(e.g. the courses of UPS, St Anselm…, licentiate (or MA) in spirituality, in consecrated life).
As the rotation of the formative personnel is programmed, periods of “formative voids” should be avoided (while waiting for new people already assigned to basic formation).
Among the missionaries who receive their first assignment, a list should be made of the names of those that could become formators, those whose potentiality for this job was already noted during their own basic formation.

IV Pastoral Stage

Its objective: to give to the formandi the desire to ask for the possibility of living and incarnating the values of missionary consecration before taking their final vows. Even if up to now these requests have been small in number, we underline here their value and necessity.
Formators must create a positive mentality in regard to the stage. The latter is not a
form of punishment, neither is it an experience for seminarians who are encountering difficulties.

In order not to render useless the pastoral stage, we must:
n Single out missionaries who can be welcoming to these young people;
n Be near these young people during their stage. One missionary must personally walk with them;
n Integrate these young people who are in their pastoral stage into the apostolic activities of the community that receives them;
n Present a written report at the end of the stage;
n Foresee that this stage be available to our Brothers too before their final vows (see further down, IX, Formation of the Brothers).

V Licentiate (MA) Diplomas and Basic Formation

On this topic, the X General Chapter points out:
“The praxis of requesting all theological students to get a degree that is equivalent to a Master’s in Theology should be upheld wherever possible” (pg 92). At present, this is not possible in four of our IMC theological seminaries: Kinshasa, London, Nairobi, São Paulo. We plan to ask the corresponding theological Institutes in question that the possibility be studied in order that our students may have access to that particular degree.

Master’s degrees to be earned during the basic formation must correspond to their purpose of helping to attain a theological synthesis and a qualification in the service of the Mission. For this purpose to be kept integral, eventual pseudo-intellectual pretenses must be discarded, as well as an excessive preoccupation in obtaining these diplomas. For this to be so, what the X General Chapter said must be kept in mind right from the beginning and all through the formative process: “A truly missionary formation must be given to the young candidates in our Institute: A missionary formation in its various dimensions and in accord with our Ad Gentes. The Ad Gentes must permeate everything in their formation and must constitute one of the essential criteria for receiving the candidates, for their admission to the religious profession and for their ordination to the priesthood” (pg 54-55).

Furthermore, we reaffirm that:
n It is the task of the formators to point out the potentialities of the young people in the academic field in relation to possible specializations that are useful in our missionary apostolate and in our life as IMC.
n It is the task of the Provinces to propose the names of the missionaries that will obtain the diplomas that are necessary for those Provinces.
n It is up to the General Government to propose to missionaries to go through studies of specialization and obtain doctorates that are needed by specialized services of our Institute and its Mission Ad Gentes.

VI Synthesization—In-depth Missiological Studies During Basic Formation

Regional meetings for in-depth missiological studies for formandi (inter-seminary) must be organized (where this has not yet been done).

Some useful themes:
Our Charism and our Founder; the IMC regional conferences 2000; the two Centennial Years and the biennial themes: “Distributors of the Mysteries of Salvation”, and “Our Marian Inspiration and Consolation”; The Contents of Missiology.

Times:
Beginning of the academic year; middle of the academic year; during the holidays.

Means & Subsidies:
Mission and Consecration; The Mission Speaks; IMC magazines and those of other institutes.

To study and promote:
An IMC manual on the Mission; charism for seminaries.
A contest for seminarians at the occasion of the centennials.
Space for exchange of information, experiences and formative material in the site IMC (consolata.org).

VII Revision of the Ratio Formationis

“Within the next three years, the Ratio Formationis should be reviewed, keeping in mind the decisions of the Chapter, especially those that relate to the Mission Ad Gentes. This revision should consider the present social, cultural and ecclesial situations. To reach this goal, the Office of Formation and Studies should set up an ad hoc commission with representatives from all stages of formation. It seems opportune that this study begin at the continental level.” (Acts of the X General Chapter, pg 92).

The following will be sent by the Office of Formation and Studies:

1. Letter to the seminarians (philosophy and theoloy).

In this letter we ask them: to review the purpose of the stage they are in; to keep in mind the priority and the proposals of the X General Chapter; to answer some questions:
n Which values—contents should be studied more in depth? How?
n Which are the difficulties that our formandi encounter?
n What new elements should be kept in mind—be proposed?
n What elements are missing, or must be recuperated… in the preceding formative stages (propaedeutic and philosophy)?

This reflection is to be done communitarily, in order to arrive at a synthesis—consensus on the answers.

2. Letter to the formators.

In the light of the new contexts of the Mission and of the Ad Gentes of the IMC, and keeping in mind your own concrete service (formative stage of which you are responsible), ask yourself as a formator:
n With regard to the formative process, what and how should the Ratio Formationis express (language, content, mode of doing Mission) about: human maturity, study, spiritual life, community life, our Ad gentes?

Every formator should try to formulate the following things in their relation to the stage he works in: content, means and goals of the IMC formation. This should be done always keeping in mind our Ad Gentes, the contexts, the praxes, and the reflection on the Mission.

3. Question the young missionaries who are at their first missionary experience:
Between what you received in formation and what you are living now in the missions: How much deviation and continuity is there?

4 Involve other missionaries in the revision of the Ratio Formationis.


VIII Continental Meetings for Formators (from the Propaedeutic Year to Theology)

The participants must bring with them the formation material that they use in their own work, and what was collected from, or defined in, the Regional Directory of Formation.

The purpose of the continental meetings for formators is:
n To study the reality of the life of the youth of the continent in relation to the themes of vocation and formation to the Ad Gentes Mission;
n To recall, in relation to the IMC’s basic formation, the main content of the following documents: Pastores Dabo Vobis, Vita Conacrata, Redemptoris Missio, and the directives of the Congregations for Catholic education and for the Institutes of consecrated life;
n To study the theme “The Propaedeutic Year” in view of coming up with a good definition and explanation of it – which will then be inserted in the Ratio Formationis;
n Working together to make a first revision and/or a new formulation of the Ratio Formationis;

During these continental meetings, four confreres will be singled out (one for each formative stage) who will have the following task, relative to the revision of the ratio Formationis:
n to maintain, in the continent, the connection among all the formators and with the General Office of Formation;
n To collect all meaningful contribution by the members, and all material that is useful to this topic;
n To synthesize and compile the ideas expressed in view of the revision of the Ratio Formationis.

This work of synthesis compiled by the four confreres in each continent will be sent to the General Office of Formation. This Office will give this work to a Redacting Committee which will write a first draft of the renewed Ratio Formationis.
This first draft will be sent to the formators and to other missionaries for revision and corrections. The final draft will then be made by the Redacting Committee, in collaboration with the Office.

IX Formation of the Brothers

The General Council of Formation and Studies reaffirms the validity of the project approved by the X General Chapter (Acts, pg 93-94), keeping in mind the objections expressed in two Regional Conferences (Ethiopia and Kenya).
We assert the importance of every formative stage mentioned by the same Chapter, and we point out the need of the technico-professional preparation before the novitiate, and the theologico-pastoral one later. However, this does not eliminate all the other dimensions offered and requested by each IMC formandus.
It is important for each IMC Brother to know, in theory and in practice, at least one concrete profession, in which he can express his specific apostolic service.
For the Brothers too, the possibility of a stage before the final vows should be envisaged, so that they can exercise their technical profession as an experience in service next to other Brothers. In order not to make this stage useless, see what was said in number IV.
If at all possible, the presence of a Brother during the basic formation of Brother candidates should be assured. One way or another, a missionary who is sensitive to the IMC Brothers’ vocation is a must during their basic formation.

X Liturgy and Formation

Following the directions of the present Ratio Formationis, which were underlined by the X General Chapter, the two reports presented during the last Congress IMC (“Distributors of the Mysteries of Salvation”, Rome, September 18-21, 2000) by Frs. Gottardo Pasqualetti and Darcí de Jesus Ferreira Vilarinho should be used to advantage.

XI Perseverance of the Perpetually Professed IMCs

During these past years, statistics tell us that many formandi, from the novitiate to the final vows, have abandoned our Institute. We want to emphasize the need for a certain continuity and consistency in the diverse IMC formative stages. We call everybody’s attention to the following:
n All formators must use the formative and pedagogical means proposed in the Ratio Formationis and in the letters sent by the General Office on Formation and Studies.
n The formators cannot and must not alter the formative process by introducing kinds of spirituality and contents that are not IMC.
n In cases of difficult discernment, especially when the information of a candidate is incomplete, formators must consult one another.


XII Communication Between Formators and Formative Communities

In order to facilitate communication between formators and formandi:
n Formators in the same Region should meet among themselves.
n All information on each formandus must be passed on to the formator in the new formative stage.
n Formators are to consult one another in the cases of difficult discernment.
n Every two years, a continental meeting of formators is to take place.
n The General Office of Formation and the Continental Councilors are the animators of the proposals, of the collection and the exchange of experiences and of other important formative subsidies.
n Regional meetings should be held for the formandi of the Province.
n In the IMC site, space should be given to the exchange of news, experiences and subsidies that are useful to the formators and to formative communities.

XIII Programming for the General Office of Formation

The Office must propose that all formators meet annually, at the level of the continent or at the level of the Provinces.
The continental meetings of formators are to be held in 2001, 2003 and 2005.
The Office is to print a vademecum for formators in which is collected all the information from the Office concerning the criteria and the concrete means to be followed in the diverse formative stages.
All IMC formators will receive the minutes of the General Council of Formation held in Rome on September 25-28, 2000.

XIV Agenda of the General Council of Formation

The next meeting of the General Council of Formation is scheduled for the month of July of the year 2002.
The members of the General Council of Formation will keep in touch in order to exchange among themselves proposals and other information. They also engage themselves to computerizing in their own languages (English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) the text of the Ratio Formationis IMC.

I thank the members of the General Council of Formation for their availability and for their contribution.
I also thank all of you who have read this synthesis. I hope that it will be an encouragement to cooperation and mutual aid: this will render more efficient and appealing the formative course of action that our Institute proposes to young people in their voyage of Consecration and Mission.
We turn to Our Lady of Consolata and to Blessed Joseph Allamano and ask them to continue being for us source of inspiration, and to intercede for us.