Throughout these years of trying to clarify and deepen the demands and peculiarities of the task of formation for religious life, I must confess that I have come across more than a few definitions. Each one of them has been enriching and has helped me to discover different nuances and perspectives. Each definition is a child of its time and the fruit of its cultural framework, but each in its own way brings an embellishing element to an overall vision that makes possible a more authentic and sincere exercise of the formative mission. However, the American theologian Sandra M. Schneiders offers a metaphorical description of the formative task that I find particularly enlightening. With creativity and literary power, she states that religious formation is akin to the training of a musician. With the right help and the right resources, talent blossoms and the person experiences that he or she is becoming more and more what he or she feels called to be, that is, a musician. The relationship of artist and apprentice in the process of musical formation could offer an appropriate model of the process of religious formation.
The musical image used by Sister Sandra, despite the limitations of any analogy, has the necessary depth and value to act as a catalyst for the formation that we, as Claretians in Zimbabwe, have been doing (at least trying to do) since the inauguration in 2013 of our formation house dedicated mainly to the pre-novitiate stage (aspirancy and postulancy), thus becoming an entryway to this charismatic family. In communion with the cultural canons of these latitudes, the formative house was baptised as Claret House.
Following the allegory of the emeritus professor of the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California, and quoting explicitly from her own statements, we can break down our formative task into three constitutive notes.
- “Becoming a musician from the inside out.” Undoubtedly, the first characteristic note of formation in Zimbabwe is the evangelical daring to get rid of possible corseted and inherited schemes that accompany us as cultural baggage. ‘From the inside’ implies the challenge of going to the heart of the reality without ethnocentric prejudices, diving into the intricacies of the culture that embraces us, making the effort to get to know the young person who knocks on our door and the diverse circumstances that accompany him: from within his people, his history, his customs… For this reason, one of the priority dynamisms that have shaped the formative task in this country is the need to establish quality links with the families of the formees. It is crucial for formation to generate links with the family and cultural roots of the young missionaries. In this way, the vocational process that the young person has gone through, his quests and concerns, his wounds and difficulties, are much better understood and become more clearly visible… ‘From the inside’ leads us to ‘from where’ in a true attempt to inculturate formation or, in other words, to understand formation in the key of Incarnation.
- “It requires full cooperation from the student and full dedication by the master.” The second element that shapes formation in these southern lands is the commitment to generate a genuine platform of fraternity that sets the rhythm of all the formative dynamisms. This platform of fraternity is manifested in the first place in the special relationship that is established between formator and formee. A relationship that cannot repeat the disciplinary canons of the past or flawed ideas of a martial nature. The formative relationship between formator and formee must be built on the solid rock of mutual trust and respect. This safeguards the necessary freedom and openness, so that the formative process does not become for the formee a stoic and fallacious entrenchment in search of the desired liberation; and for the formator an obsessive forensic audit where the objective is to penalise and send back home. Two tools can help us to generate these fraternal links: on the one hand, personal accompaniment -close and sincere- and, on the other hand, mature co-responsibility that avoids empty and extrinsic legalisms. The necessary platform of fraternity is also logically expressed in a healthy community atmosphere where a sense of humour, spontaneity and youthful vitality intertwine with cooperativism, group solidarity and the knowledge of being a new family.
- “The master will be concerned with intellectual knowledge, aesthetic refinement, technique and skill, attitude toward work…” The third and final constitutive note of the formation we are trying to implement in Zimbabwe is its holistic character. Missionary formation cannot be reduced to a mere dimension of the person. Forming missionaries cannot focus only on the theoretical-doctrinal aspect as if it were a college of Cambridge; it cannot concentrate on physical-sports training as if it were an Olympic high-performance centre; it cannot be obsessed with liturgical-ritual indoctrination as if it were a Vatican college of Roman protocol. Undoubtedly, all these dimensions are necessary in their integrative measure and within a pedagogical itinerary that helps the young man to grow in wisdom, stature and grace (Lk 2:52). For some years now, Claret House has adopted a very Claretian strategy in this sense, articulating the formative programme and the learning experiences based on the four verbs used by Father Claret in his so-called Apostolic Prayer: To know, to love, to serve and to praise. In this way, the uniqueness of each formee is attended to -personalised formation (GPF 37)- without losing sight of that complexity which makes him or her unique (GPF 39).
To know the culture and the family (Incarnation), to promote a platform of fraternity and co-responsibility (Synodality), and to attend to the complexity of the human being in a personalised way (Pedagogy). These are the keys that are shaping the Claretian formation in Zimbabwe and, from these keys, we are trying to take care of the vocations that the Lord is giving us. With a profound thanksgiving on our lips and in our hearts, we can contemplate the Congregational reality in this country of the southern African region and feel proud to know that after 23 years of Claretian presence in Zimbabwe there are already 4 missionaries of perpetual profession exercising their priestly ministry in the different apostolic positions; 5 missionaries in temporary profession are completing their theological and pastoral formation (Spain, Tanzania and Zimbabwe); and, in Claret House, 4 aspirants are beginning to build their missionary and Claretian being while combining their studies of philosophy.
The Claretian formation is in Zimbabwe and in the rest of the world a true art tuned with the rhythm of the Holy Spirit. Our task as formators is therefore understood as the delicate and humble accompaniment that makes possible the encounter between the young person who seeks and the God who calls, the young person who questions and the God who reveals Himself. Let us entrust this task of craftsmanship to the Immaculate Heart of our Mother, mistress and directress, forge of missionaries.
Manuel Ogalla cmf
Responsible for formation in Zimbabwe
