by Deogratias Mmana

The Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA) needs formation of Sisters that is an integration of values and the actual needs of the candidates.

Sr. Dr. JaneFrances Nnantamu said this in her presentation at the ACWECA conference in Lilongwe on Tuesday.

“By looking at their reality and accepting it, the formees gain more inner self-esteem and gradually grow more effectively free. This in turn reinforces their ability to trust themselves, others and God,” Sr. Nnantamu said.

She said formation in the ACWECA region faces challenges that include the scarcity of appropriately trained formators and training institutions without a complete and updated formation programme.

She added that some formation houses do have overwhelming numbers of formees against few formators.

“When formators have too many candidates for personal accompaniment there is a likelihood of candidates passing through the system of formation like going through a tunnel…as a result the formees may end up committing themselves to live their vocation without being known by their formators let alone being helped to know themselves,” she said.

Sr. Nnantamu made a presentation on transformative holistic formation for authentic living towards deeper evangelization in the ACWECA region and beyond.

She is a psychologist by profession with a Doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.