Rome – It was a gift of grace to experience and look back at the formative program using the text, Ratio Formationis. We thank the General Council for their effort to equip formators through this program to provide us with a solid accompaniment for seminarians. With grateful hearts, we thank the Provincial and his Council for allowing confreres Fr. Samson DGMS Chennai, Fr. Gnanaraj GPN Bangalore, Fr. Adaikalm GPN, Bangalore, Fr. Vincent Philippines, Fr. Jerin, Vietnam, and Fr. Francis, Rome, from the Divine Providence Province to spend 23 days in Rome. Fr. Umberto Brugnoni, the formator in charge, arranged everything with care and participated in every program, while the involvement of entire General Council was notable. Every daily meditation was led by General councilors, Guanellian sisters and other Guanellian fathers.
The first two days were about sharing the socio-political, cultural and religious backgrounds of the Asian, European, African and South American cultures and we shared our joys and difficulties about vocation promotion and formation. We deepened our knowledge in Ratio and shared our concerns. During the second week, scholars from Gregorian University, Fr. Victorio and Fr. Healy SJ, were invited to help us to understand the science of human formation. The General Council dedicated a very useful day for questions and answers, and we dedicated our last two days to meditating on the life of the great masters of Charism; confreres Piero Pellegrini and Attilio Beria. Among other experiences we participated with the Holy Father in fasting and in prayer for world peace and we attended a papal audience with Pope Francis, who spoke of the Church as “Mother.” We thank Fr. Alessandro and the community for their hospitality and welcome, and we thank God and all those contributed for this beautiful experience.
The most important things that we discussed in the final meeting were;
- Creating a missionary spirit in the candidates.
- Developing criteria for selecting the candidates for Rome.
- Sending theological Regents to other parts of the Guanellian World.
- Reading the Ratio on a provincial, community and personal level.
- Encouraging regular personal prayer and Spiritual Direction.
- Placing Residential Spiritual Directors in the major seminaries.
- Learning the Italian language.
Servants of Charity 