Our formation houses

At the beginning of this year (2015), on this column of the NEF we put forward three questions to present our formation houses in the different Regions. Where are they located? Who are our formators? What are the key points of the formation project and how are they implemented? And we set out for a long journey along the different continents.

While all are referring to the Betharramite Formation Guide, each formation house is following its own “style” according to the local culture and the ecclesial context.

In this last contribution, Fr Laurent Bacho scj, General Councillor for formation, helps us to recap what has been said so far and formulates the general challenges of initial and ongoing formation, reminding us that the Betharramite formation “requires total commitment by a person to the person of Christ; a process which lasts throughout life”. This challenges is still before us …

For the last few editions of the NEF Formation Houses were invited to introduce themselves. Next month, 29th January 2016 the formators are being invited to Rome for a ten day session; this is a bit like an extension of the session which was held in Adiapodoume in July 2007. We are very aware of the void which is facing us in Europe but happy to welcome the beginnings which we can see in the other three continents. This makes it possible for nine religious of the younger realities of our Congregation to be members of communities in the “more ancient parts of the Congregation”. A “ratio formationis”, renewed and improved, is gradually taking shape together with all the necessary translations. This tool concerns all the religious who feel a vocational impulse. “Our witness as religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and happy to live out their own vocation in a fraternal and apostolic community is a living invitation to follow Christ in the footsteps of St Michael Garicoits “ (R of L 139). It is normal that this tool concerns the formators first of all but they need to feel supported by their brethren, this work is such an ungrateful task. Furthermore, ongoing formation far from being an annex of initial formation is really a necessary extension of it. For each one ongoing formation should be a lifelong exercise because “consecrated life requires total commitment by a person to the person of Christ; a process which lasts throughout life. It is a matter of progressively assimilating the sentiments of the Son’s offering to the Father” (R of L 136). From our own experience we know that we are always on the way.

It is good that all the religious are aware of the challenges facing the Formation Houses and will be part of the different reflexions during the Formators’ session in Rome.

Today great progress has been made in the development of the individual; the blossoming of the individual is one of those forms of progress which we are happy to note. It would be difficult for someone full of complexes to witness to “beauty in the footsteps of Jesus” (R of L 137). Without correct self esteem it would be difficult to become a “new man genuinely free”. In our Formation Houses efforts exist encouraging a sense of responsibility; the different stages are organised to help the young candidate to discover an area where he can show his talents. However it is up to the formators to detect whatever could be human glorification and which the Pope calls “auto-reference”. It is a fact that such carry on is part of human nature always and everywhere. The danger of self centeredness was already pointed out by St Michael: «the preoccupation of me, of myself, the end of all. There is only room for self, with the result that all those preoccupations are where our contemporaries get lost» (DS § 60). Hence the question: how to enter deeper into the mystery of dejection “in imitation of Jesus humble and obedient” when one sees the sacrifice that this requires?

Today it is commonplace to rejoice at all the means of communication which are useful, and make contacts easier; they are also a good means for the apostolate. In our Formation Houses there is training in the use of these means. We must guard against certain dangers to safeguard interior life, discretion before such temptations, the importance of human relations both in community and outside the community, which will never be replaced by anything on our screen. We must wage war against the relativism and subjectivism of today’s world which can influence us but need education (E.G. 88)

We are happy at all those commitments by our young brothers and we are sorry that they are lacking elsewhere. It is a grace from the Lord in our Formation Houses and which passes on to the entire Congregation. We are also deeply touched when departures from the Congregation occur a few months or a few years after final commitments. How is the young candidate to be formed in a greater obedience and perseverance? One can wonder if those candidates sufficiently gauged the seriousness of final vows or ordination. It’s not just a contract but a consecration before God and the Church. On the day of our profession we said “I want to live the joy of consecration in community” (R of L 153); have we thought of all the sacrifices and frustrations that such fidelity involves?

Far from accusing those who have left, a question remains for us who have stayed. There is such a thing as superficial fidelity in which the heart is not fully engaged. I have been deeply impressed by the question of the Pope on “seeking appearances; there are no public scandals and everything seems to be fine” (E.G. 93). Fidelity and perseverance concern us all so as to show the movement of the Heart of Jesus, the Word Incarnate. “ (R of L. 2)

These are questions which must be reflected on during this session not just with our eyes but with hearts full of faith and hope. The aim of this session is to allow each formator to give the best of himself without worrying about the results, just like St Michael who showed commitment to Mgr Lacroix even though he didn’t get the result hoped for. “Let’s do what God wants us to do, and as he wants; let people say what they like. What about the success? We shall not be judged on that question; success depends on God; He has reserved that for Himself. Let’s not meddle with what God has reserved for Himself” (D.S. 235).

This meeting of the formators is intended to enhance the commitment and fervour of those who have been chosen by the Congregation for a task which is often ungrateful but also exciting since it consists of passing on to a new generation our joy of living like St Michael (E.G. 84). May the whole Congregation be united in prayer so that the Betharramite formator be a disciple according to the Heart of Jesus. “The sower cares for the grain and does not grow impatient at the weeds. The sower, when he sees weeds sprouting among the grain does not grumble or overreact”. (E.G. 24).

Laurent Bacho, scj
General Councillor for formation

In the light of my experience as a formator, being in contact with many youths, talking with them and with different formators, I sometimes do not feel up to the task. I discover more and more how vocation is a complex reality. All I can say and do in discerning a vocation and forming a person for religious life will always be much less than what the grace of God can perform in a person who wants to surrender his life to the Lord. Everything has to be done in an act of faith and mercy. We let grace go its own way…
Sylvain Dansou Hounkpatin scj