(Warsaw, Poland) On Monday, 11 May 2021, leaders from the communities implementing the “Together in Mission” programme met to exchange experiences. It was also a time to summarize and evaluate the first year of formation. The online meeting was attended by 36 people from the communities that make up the “Together in Mission” network: Sursum Corda (Krakow, Warsaw, Jordanów), Pieśń Nowa (Toruń), Blessed Kasper Stanggasinger (Grodno – Belarus), Missionary Team East (Tuchów), Dzielne Niewiasty (Warsaw), Nowe Życie (Elbląg), Obfite Odkupienie (Wrocław).
The strengths of the cooperation are the concrete handouts that help in teaching, catechesis based on the Word of God, and the Church’s teachings – underlined by the participants. The first year of formation is based on the kerygma and motivates daily work with the Word of God. The programme emphasises Redemptorist spirituality and helps to build links within the communities. It allows for a unified formation for the different communities and collaboration and exchange of experiences. There are also challenges for the future: the need to develop a formation program for leaders and work on a program for youth. It is expected too that the members of the communities will be more creative and involved.
The constraints of the coronavirus pandemic caused the greatest difficulty in implementing the programme during the past formation year. All the communities adapted to this difficult situation and switched to online meetings.
Future opportunities related to the development of networking seems to be very promising. Collaboration provides opportunities for networking, e.g. joint retreats, days of recollection, jointly run evangelisation courses. Networking helps to open up sharing experiences and opens up space to reach out to people from different backgrounds.
Collaborating in a mission is also a motivation to involve a wider range of people and build a sense of belonging based on shared values. The next meeting of the representatives of the circles of the collaborative network “Together in Mission” is planned for the end of June 2021 in Krakow.
Fr. Paweł Drobot CSsR
