The formation programme of the Pious Schools Going Forth consists of three phases. The first phase is formative in a significant place of the Order. In the first promotion of 2019, this formation took place in Kikonka (DR Congo). As you probably remember from the publications, the second promotion was held in Daloa (Ivory Coast). The second phase begins simultaneously with the first phase, although it takes shape at the end of the first phase. In the Going Forth dynamic, the role of the community is very important, which is why, already in the formation phase, the participants are divided into three (or four) Communities of Life. There is a community meeting every day, and many activities revolve around them. Precisely, there is this desire to strengthen community life in the training phase, which is face-to-face, so that it will be more robust in the online phase when the meetings necessarily have to be virtual. The third phase is a small mission experience. The programme’s closing could be understood as a fourth phase; in reality, it is a new self-understanding: the desire to be able and to want to live in Going Forth, regardless of the Piarist presence in which one works and lives. To avoid frequent misunderstandings, it is worth repeating that this formation in Going Forth is not to train future missionaries (if we understand mission as going to another country or demarcation).
Currently, the programme is in this second phase, the so-called online phase, where the life communities meet monthly through an online platform. The first challenge is to find the best time. If this is always a bit complex in an ordinary community, imagine a community where the time zone can range from Mexico to the Philippines. While some have the morning coffee, others have the herbal tea for a good night’s sleep. Other formal challenges include having a good internet connection, electricity (no blackout), and refreshing English with difficulty comprehension when the meeting is held online.
However, they are not all challenges! It is fundamentally the joy and desire to meet each other. We also have small monthly meetings, or dialogues, with those in charge of the communities and what satisfaction we have when we know they live them with great passion.
The General Team of Pious Schools Going Forth has provided a nine-month plan with the meeting themes. It is flexible and collaborative and should be adapted to each community. The first was about one of the themes addressed by Timothy Radcliffe when he gave the retreat on synodality to the Synod participants. The second was a reflection on the culture of Going Forth. The third was a dialogue on authority and service.
There are also guests and some joint sessions with the Kikonka generation, such as the one we had with the Order’s Formation of Formators in Montemario, Rome.
We will continue to share our adventures.
Carles Gil i Saguer SchP
Pious Schools Going Forth
