Interprovince Leadership and Formators Meeting in India

The four Provincial Leadership Teams (PLTs) and Formators of Indian provinces gathered at Tanmaya, Bhopal, India on July 14, 2021 for a three days’ meeting.  Each day’s sessions commenced with a meaningful prayer service. The prayer invited the group to be “Listening with ears of the heart and not with the ears of the head; seeing with eyes of the heart and not with the eyes of the head.”

Srs. Prabha and Annies the Provincials of the Provinces of Tanmaya and Pachmarhi moderated the sessions of the three days. The purpose of the meeting was to revise the guidelines of the formation Programme at all stages including ongoing formation in the four provinces.

Much time was spent on group work and in general assembly to discuss various matters pertaining to the Formation structure and process in the four provinces and study the new Formation Manual of the congregation, and to practically implement those ideas in the formation programme of India. The group came out with new and modified plans for various stages of formation at the province and interprovince level with an idea that all the four provinces follow the same structure.

Sr. Vidhya who has done the course with UISG – Rome, on formation in 2020 shared with the whole group a summary of various topics that were taught to the formator’s group in Rome, and then online due to the pandemic.

The four provincial teams decided on new ventures for the coming years. Plans are made for interprovince recollections region wise; retreats in which the sisters of other provinces will be free to join and batchwise gathering at interprovince level. The PLTs felt the need to collaborate more among themselves as Indian provinces and planned to have six monthly zoom meetings of the four leadership teams.

The prayer on the third day was an expression of the freedom and openness experienced by the group during this gathering. The participants freely  expressed themselves through a dance meditation with gentle movements accompanied by a prayer of Joyce Rupp: “Dancing God, still passionate today dynamic movement of love Wooing our hearts toward oneness and peace in a tear-stained world. Dance on Passionate God, We are your dance now. Teach us the tune, show us the steps.” 

Navya Neelamvilail
 Province of Pachmarhi