ZAMBIA: Catholic Sisters Call For Revamped Religious Formation, Collaboration And Sustainability Planning
Sr. Jane Wakahiu, LSSF Addressing Participants of the Convening
As the Africa Convening 2019 of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Catholic Sisters Initiative got underway, the need to revitalize Religious life could not be overemphasized.
This need came out clearly on 23rd October during the Sisters meeting on formation, which preceded the official opening of the 2019 Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Catholic Sisters Initiative.
The Convening which was the third since the initiative was launched in 2017 took place at Zambia’s Taj Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka.
“As formation needs keep on changing due to the emerging needs and the changing global landscape, the Sisters clearly expressed the need to refurbish the curriculum within the formation program,” Sr. Jane Wakahiu, Head of the Catholic Sisters Initiative at the Hilton Foundation observed.
She further explained that this same need had earlier on been identified in 2017 as the Foundation set out to investigate the needs of the Sisters in preparation to the launch of the Catholic Sisters Initiative.
In the first and second Convening of the Catholic Sisters Initiative that took place in 2017 and 2018 in Ghana and Uganda respectively, participants had prior conversations in which they discussed what is core to Religious life.
Sister Wakahiu who is also the Associate Vice President of Program Operations at the Hilton Foundation said from the conversations, it was clear that Religious life is sustained through initial and ongoing formation. She said the meeting in Uganda discussed some of the successes, challenges and ways in which they could continue strengthening Religious life in Africa.
Back in the United States, the Catholic Sisters Initiative team listened to the stories and the many suggestions that came from some of the Sisters who were at the Convening that time. The team then followed this up with emails and webinars with Sisters from different regions on the continent.
In spite of these, she acknowledged that there were still some gaps that were emerging and that her team was not sure of what needed to be done at that time.
The team later on followed this up with another conversation with a much smaller consultative group in which a few Secretaries General participated in Nairobi, Kenya. Out of that, the Catholic Sisters Initiative has designed a pilot program to be implemented through the Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa, (ACWECA).
She said her organization was now in the process of working on that particular grant to begin the implementation. He however warned that they could design a very good program but that if the curriculum does not tally with the needs of the time, it would still not give the desired results.
“If that curriculum is not ingrained in the people’s way of life and the challenges that are emerging, there may be things that we will not be addressing,” she warned.
She went on to challenge the participants at the formation meeting to identify some of the courses they want to be taught in formation houses.
Earlier on, some participants at the meeting had acknowledged lack of curriculum review in some formation houses as a loophole in the formation system.
Meanwhile the need to collaborate among congregations or as conferences of major superiors was pointed out by a Nigerian Sister Grace Ushie.
“I come from Nigeria and I know how difficult it is for the conference to carry out any common projects. Each congregation wants to do something just for themselves,” Sr. Ushie had said.
She therefore called on the Sisters to partner as congregations and as conferences of major superiors.
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By Sr. Grace Candiru, MSMMC, ACWECA Communication Officer
