From 17 to 20 December 2024, at the Diocesan Pastoral Centre of Bandarawela, in the diocese of Badulla, Sri Lanka, a missionary formation course was held for two groups of religious sisters of the diocese: one of 34 and the other of 26.
Each session was crafted to enrich the participants spiritually, intellectually and pastorally, supporting them in their commitment to their religious vocation and mission of evangelization.
There were four training sessions and they covered the following topics:
“Charism and Evangelization in a Missionary Diocese” which explored the richness of charisms within the Church and their vital role in evangelization; “The Pastoral Dimensions in a Multicultural and Multi-religious Context ” which emphasized the role of religious sisters as ambassadors of unity in their missionary contexts; “The Renewal of Religious Commitment” which drew on the messages from recent World Mission [Sun]Days to reflect on their call to discipleship and the Gospel mandate to bring the Good News to the peripheries; and the final session “Responsibility Toward God’s Creation According to Laudato Si’” emphasized how environmental protection is an integral part of the sisters’ mission of evangelization.
The program concluded with an interactive session in which participants shared how to integrate the resources acquired during the course into their ministries, improving both personal and community missionary commitment. The course was not only an opportunity for spiritual deepening, but also sought to provide the religious with practical tools to promote evangelization and ecological responsibility.
The course consisted of alternating lectures and presentations, group discussions, workshops and case studies, guided reflections, audio visual aids, and Q&A sessions, with the teachers taking turns in presenting them. The sisters were also encouraged to continue their individual studies through a substantial and rich bibliography they were given. The feedback from the participants was very positive, so much so as to lead to a request to continue training courses conceived and created in this way.
