The missionary activity of the Church in the world is developing and so should do the missionaries and those in formation aiming at being missionaries. With this in mind, the Consolata Missionaries in Kenya realized the Inter-Seminary Meeting from 22nd to 24th February 2015, at Consolata Seminary - Nairobi. The Inter-Seminary is a meeting of all the Consolata seminarians in formation in Kenya (sometimes joined by the Consolata Sisters in formation), realized every two years. It aims at integrating those in the various stage of formation (Propaedeutic, Philosophy, Noviciate and Theology), while reflecting on some pertinent topics affecting our Institute and the society. The theme for this year’s Inter-Seminary was “New waves of Evangelization”.
The Inter-Seminary had the presence of more than120 Consolata seminarians currently in the various stages of formation in our Region and a group of young ladies beginning the formative process in the Consolata Sisters. Every day our morning sessions were dedicated to a specific topic with the assistance of a facilitator and group discussions while the afternoons were dedicated to sport activities and the evening dedicated to talent performances.
We began our reflection on the first day, going back to our roots in Kenya, as far as the IMC is concern. We reflected on the Conference of Murang’a and its impact to the Church missionary activity then and today. Fr. Tarcisio Maina, IMC pointed out the extreme importance of the event of Murang’a in a way that it opened the horizons of the Consolata Missionaries from Murang’a to the World.
On the second day of reflection, we focused on the Pastoral challenges of witchcraft and superstition today. Fr. Clemente Majjawa (a professor from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa) assisted us in a reflection that exposed the challenge of some Christians who are involved in superstitious practices or secret societies such as witchcraft and illuminati, though the latter is more common among the youth. In addition to that, there is also the challenge of Church leaders and ministers involving themselves in the same practices.
The third day was dedicated to reflection on Drug Abuse. Paul Ndungu, an Addiction Counselor, shared with us an outlook of the most consumed drugs in Kenya, its effects on human health and the factors that lead people to enter the world of drug abuse. It is not surprising to us that even Church people, such as seminarians, priests and nuns also fall into this vice. Paul concluded the session with his personal testimony. He shared how he entered into drug abuse at the early teenage, how he lived with it for good part of his life undergoing several challenges, how he underwent treatment and managed to get out of it. Today he is a trainer/facilitator and addiction counselor helping other people to come out of the challenge of drug abuse.
The event was a good opportunity to meet our friends of other formation houses, socialize with them and gain some knowledge as far as the challenges facing the new waves of evangelization are concern.
