Following the guidelines of the Chapter Document, “Practice Hospitality”, in the field of formation, with that call to “live in a continuous process of formation”, the General Government has promoted in recent months two initiatives with the aim of promoting “the indispensable reflection on our formative reality as a whole, updating the structures, methods and contents so that they help to progressively conform to the feelings of Jesus “(Practice Hospitality, 6).

Thus, last December, the Superior General appointed the sisters who, together with Sr. Léontine J. Ngo Mbock, General Councilor in charge of formation, constitute the General Commission for Formation. They are Susana Martins Silva (Province of Portugal), Gricelda Gonzalez (Province of Latin America), Cristina Hernández (Province of Spain), Maria Nhu (Delegation of Vietnam) and Cecilia Eshun (Province of England).

The mission of said commission is to animate and coordinate the formative task of the Congregation, offering general orientations, leaving its application to the different realities of each Province, in such a way that the unity and continuity of the processes is ensured, between the different stages and phases of life, with due adaptations to times, circumstances, contexts and demands (General Training Plan, 167, 168).

Actions developed by the commission

On March 26, we held the first meeting whose objective was to promote mutual knowledge among the sisters of the commission and to reach a joint definition of the mission and functions of the commission. The participants were very available to collaborate, aware of the many challenges that arise in formation at this time in our congregational history. This first meeting ended by placing the work of the Commission under the benevolent gaze of Our Lady of the Heart of Jesus, the first formator, as well as of our Holy Founders.

Another initiative that we have carried out has been the realization of a “Training Meeting for Trainers“, in online mode, under the theme ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIAN VOCATION: KEYS TO A TRAINING IN PROCESS, by M ª Soledad Marcos Rodríguez, whose purpose was to revitalize in our formator sisters the identity of a consecrated hospital woman, strengthening in them the anthropological, Christian, spiritual and charismatic dimensions, in order to develop “a culture of continuous formation” as suggested by the document of the XXI General Chapter, No. 6 ).

Some of the adressed issues were principles for adult education-training within a multicultural context, forces that operate in every human group, or the the affective-sexual dimension in training.

Thirty-eight sisters participated in this meeting of formation of formators; from which two perspectives for the future were extracted:

• Implement dynamics that help to delve into the topics received, allowing the sisters to go through gradual processes of human and spiritual growth that have resonance in daily life and in formative action.
• Continue deepening the reflection on the revision of the formative stage of the postulancy that we have begun.

Léontine J Ngo Mbock, 2nd General Councilor.