ACWECA: Conducts a Capacity Building Training for Religious Formators in Uganda

Immaculate Tusingwire, MMS

The Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA), recently conducted a one-week capacity building workshop for formators in Uganda, at the Association of Religious in Uganda (ARU) Secretariat.

The workshop was officially opened by the Secretary General of ARU Sr. Lydia Apili Bwor, LSMIG, who invited the formators to take seriously the responsibility entrusted to them of forming the candidates on the charism and the life of their Congregations. She also encouraged them to participate in the mission of Christ and to embrace intra and inter-reconciliation in this Jubilee Year 2025.

The training which was funded by Mission Aachen focused on Resource Mobilization, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Gift of Human Sexuality in the Life of Consecrated Women. Throughout the training, participants were reminded of their central position in Religious life and the church at large.

The president of ARU Fr. John Bosco Kamoga C.S.Sp, who was one of the facilitators, emphasized that the mission of the Church is understood when we relate it to our stories. He encouraged the formators to always acknowledge their inadequacy and allow God to work with and through them. Fr. Kamoga also challenged the formators to take seriously Catholic Social Teaching as a moral campus and to always get in touch with what is affecting the lives of people they serve.

ACWECA has conducted this same training in other countries belonging to ACWECA Region such as Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Eritrea, and Tanzania. The training was given to different groups depending on the needs of a given National Association. Other groups which have been trained include the temporary professed Religious, finance managers, jubilarians, and community leaders.

According to the ACWECA coordinator of Leadership for Mission, Sr. Christine Mwangi, the skills and knowledge on resource mobilization are important to the formators as they are tasked with the responsibility of working towards sustainability of formation houses as well as the Congregation at large. She emphasized that they are to prepare human resource and mould the young women into the life of their religious institutes.

The ACWECA Team comprising of the Coordinator and Assistant Coordinator, Leadership for Mission, reminded the approximately 40 Formators from different congregations about the guiding theme of ACWECA Region ‘Transformative Holistic Formation for Authentic Living towards a Deeper Evangelization in the ACWECA Region and beyond’. They encouraged them to prepare persons who can work along other evangelizers in ACWECA region and beyond. As pilgrims of hope, they were reminded that they hold the future of their religious institutes on their hands.

At the end of the training, participants were grateful for the opportunity given by ACWECA to have these helpful inputs and a space to share their own experiences with each other and in turn get enriched by the experiences of others.