The second meeting of Vocation Promoters, Prefects of Postulancy, Prefects of Students, Novice Masters and other Redemptorists from the CRE involved directly in initial formation was held in Dublin, Ireland from 2nd to 4th September 2015.
Fr. Alberto Eseverri (General Consultor), Fr. Dan Baragry (Provincial from Dublin Province), twenty five formators from 12 Units in Europe and the Novice Master from Toronto took part in this meeting prepared by the Secretariat for Formation of the CRE.
There are 123 formandee in Europe (as of 3rd September 2015) but of course they are not equally present in the different parts of Europe. Some of the Units are struggling with the shortage of formandee. The Units with the biggest number of formandee are: Warsaw (48); Lviv (24) and Madrid (10).
The President of the General Secretariat for Formation Fr. Alberto Eseverri gave a detailed explanation about: the Decrees of Fr. General regarding Initial Formation, the second and the third part of the Manuel for Formators; the new articles for formators prepared by GSF and also the preparation of the Collection of Communicandas (regarding formation issues).
Fr. Metod Lukacik (member of Secretariat for Formation of the CRE) presented the Report of the work of the Secretariat for Formation of the CRE during the past four years. The formators from each Unit shared their experiences and spoke about their tasks and challenges.
Most of the working sessions were dedicated to discussions about: the contemporary challenges in formation, the possibilities and difficulties in establishing common formation communities in Europe, common formation meetings for Europe (such as Courses of Spiritual Renewal before Perpetual Vows and Transition to Ministry, Meetings and Pilgrimages of our students, participation in World Youth Day in Krakow 2016, etc.)
The formators spoke with great appreciation about the common preparation courses before Perpetual Vows which took place during the previous three years in Tuchów (Poland). The Viceprovince of Bratislava will be the host of this course next year and according to the decision of the Superior General the course will be prolonged and will last from 4th July to 4th August 2016.
During the first meeting for all formators from the CRE (Krakow, Poland in 2013) the formators decided that every second or third year, they will meet to discuss formation issues in Europe. The next meeting of the Formators from the CRE will be held in Trois-Epis (France) in September 2018.
Fr. Jacek Zdrzałek
President of the Secretariat for Formation in the CRE
