Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: TRAINING FOR TRANSFORMATION

Monday, June 16, 2014

TRAINING FOR TRANSFORMATION – THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

One of the highlights of last year was the two-week workshop we had on Training for Transformation. Recently we had the chance to build further on that foundation when the TFT team returned for another week.

The workshop began by reviewing what took place last year. Then we were given time and space to share the experiences we had during our 3-month Pastoral Placement, which was a way of us putting into practice the knowledge gained last year. We were able to practice important skills like doing a listening survey. Through the survey, we were able to identify problems that are affecting people every day, such as lack of food, medication and proper shelter. This sort of process is critical if we want our projects to be truly liberating people. After all, our aim is to make people independent and not dependent.

Generally, the whole course was very important for us. It helped us understand that transformation starts with me as an individual after which I may also transform other people. Transformation is not a one-day process, it is a long journey.

The workshop ended with the award of certificates of competency. Our thanks go to our facilitators, our sister Ntombi Nyathi from South Africa, and our own Brothers Sunday and Paul from Kenya.

Participants doing an activity together.

Deep discussions are essential.

When you want to put your point straight!

Left to Right: Ntombi, Paul and Sr Scholastica (JMJ),
observe one of the fine works for prayer!

Listening and Dialogue are important!

When prayer puts a smile on faces!

Transformation is about working collaboratively!

Transformation is about putting ideas together!

Sr Scholastica receives her certificate from Br Sunday, Br Paul and Sr Ntombi.

When hard work pays!

No one could stop the happiest smile from Dominic
when receiving his certificate from Paul, Sunday and Ntombi.

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What do we want this novitiate to be?

There is a saying that goes something like this: “If we don’t do what we believe in, then we’ll end up believing in what we do”. Without a vision that is authentic and alive to guide our actions, then we can settle for rationalizing the status quo or what is convenient and comfortable.
One of the first things the new team in Tamale did was to spend time beginning to articulate its vision of a novitiate beyond the basics laid down in our Constitutions. Here are some elements of what we came up with:
Novitiate is a journey, a process that involves KNOWING, EXPERIENCING and CHOOSING.
It is an INITIATION into Christian Brother religious life, so a “rite of passage” into a new identity, a time of learning and testing.
Novitiate confronts the novices with the Brother’s vocation as a call to brotherly solidarity and community, not to privilege, status and security.
It involves exploration of the basic values of faith and vocation, and the challenge to embrace these out of personal conviction and free choice.
Novitiate means understanding that a religious vocation makes a claim on the whole of the person and his life, including his inner life, his relationships and his professional activity (ministry). Furthermore, it challenges the novice to see the dynamic inter-relationship of these areas and to learn what their integration means.
Novitiate is a time of DISCERNMENT. The novice learns more deeply who he is, and what this Christian Brother life is. There is a constant back-and-forth movement between these two poles as an answer is sought to the question, “Is this where I am meant to be? Is this the life that will enable me to find my true self in God?”