Living in community is an essential aspect of religious life, and formation programs provide opportunities for participants to experience community living firsthand. This includes sharing daily life, prayer, meals, and responsibilities with fellow novices or junior professed members, fostering a sense of belonging and solidarity. Throughout the formation process, participants receive mentorship and guidance from experienced members of their congregation, including formation directors, spiritual directors, and senior members. This personalized support helps individuals navigate the challenges and opportunities of religious life with wisdom and discernment.
With the participation of the religious men and women, the effectiveness of this workshops can be measured if the participants are better equipped to discern their vocation and make informed decisions about committing to religious life within their respective congregations. Formation programs helps an individual in their spiritual growth and deepening of faith, enabling one to cultivate a vibrant spiritual life that sustains them throughout their religious journey.
Community life integration can sometimes be a challenge to a young religious man or woman, but with the workshop offered on formation, it helps to foster a sense of belonging and integration within the religious community, helping one to develop strong bonds of friendship and collaboration with their community and those that they serve in their various apostolates.
The religious men and women who attend these courses emerge from formation programs with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to engage in ministry and service within their congregations and the wider community. Thus making the formation program very relevant to the people they serve and even to an individual. In addition, the effectiveness of initial formation is reflected in the long-term commitment of participants to religious life and their ongoing dedication to living out the charism and mission of their congregation.
The input provided to the religious men and women in these programs provide a holistic and well-rounded formation experience that addresses the spiritual, intellectual, practical, and communal dimensions of religious life, inter-congregational workshops/seminars can be highly effective in preparing pre-novices, novices, and junior professed members for a life of service and discipleship.