Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
March 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
All peace and good be with you as we say goodbye to Winter and hello to Spring, at least that is what I am hoping for! But for those of us that live in North Eastern PA, old man Winter can linger well into late March.
In my last letter to you I said we would start talking about what we do with all this paper we collect! So here we go. To start with, several letters ago I directed you to the chart “Pathway to Profession[i]”; you will find we end up there a lot. It is a great resource and lays out what has to happen. The reason we gather all this documentation is to assist the potential candidate and the local council in determining if an individual has a vocation to the Franciscan Secular life and rule. In smaller fraternities it is easier in most cases for everyone to get close to each other, in larger fraternities this becomes difficult at times. The letters, homework, sacramental records and interviews all help the individual express their thoughts and feelings but also help the local council and formation team to truly get to know them. It is ultimately the council, including the Spiritual Assistant if you have one, that will decide to accept or not accept the individual into profession[ii].
This can be a daunting task, but if done a little at a time will make it much easier. In addition, no individual in the process should be surprised at the outcome. What do I mean by that? No one should get thru candidacy and then the council questions their vocation. The Formation Team or Director should be reporting progress, issues or concerns to the council right from the start. According to the Pathways Chart that would be the first interview. The first interview is very telling; is the individual forth coming or reluctant to share information? How do they respond to very personnel questions about marriages, clubs and other organizations they belong to? This interview becomes a part of their permanent record.
Once invited to participate in orientation, the home work starts and is also collected. Depending on the dynamics of the individuals and as I get to know them, I will either assign homework questions from the Franciscan Journey Book or I will let them chose. If I see they are selecting the easier questions I then start to assign them. They are told to review all the questions, but to give a written response to at least two questions and always the last question concerning the scriptures. Then the entire chapter and supporting documents are discussed.
During the various stages of initial formation, this homework is presented to the council for them to review if they chose to do so. Once an individual is either professed or withdraws, the home work is returned to them so that they can look back and reflect on what they experienced. Something like Mystagogia[iii] in the RCIA.
As Orientation comes to an end, the formation team discuss their impression of the individual, and then invites the individual to apply for Inquiry. I ask them to write a formal letter to the council sharing some of their experience and why they feel lead to Inquiry and the start of formal formation. I do have to share with you that our council has had to make the hard decision at times not to invite a person to continue although it is normally a mutual agreement.
Next month we will discuss some of the documents and process for Inquiry and beyond.
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation Director
[i] Regional Formation handbook, second section, page 43; or
http://www.skdregion.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pathwaytoprofession.jpg
[ii] Pathway to Profession chart
[iii] Greek word that means to reflect upon the mysteries
