St Martin De Pores Parish Conducts a Review and Planning Meeting to Improve Faith Formation for Children, the Youth and Catechumens
By Lonely Paul Mwandira
The newly established parish of St Martin De Pores conducted a review and planning meeting of the Faith Formation that is done through instructions to Sunday School children, the youth and catechumens. This was conducted on Saturday, 24th April 2021 at Ngerenge (St Martin De Pores Parish Centre).
The meeting was arranged because monitoring of instructions to various faith groups had revealed that there were many challenges in the parish concerning faith formation through instructions to Sunday School children, the youth and catechumens.
The aim of the meeting was to share the challenges and plan together a way forward in order to improve such faith formation initiatives. Led by the Parish Priest, Fr Joseph Sikwese, the many instructors of children, the youth and catechumens that gathered (37 in total) shared the status of faith formation through instructions in their respective prayer centres and Small Christian Communities. They established that there were many gaps concerning adequate learning/ teaching materials and the commitment of instructors, church leaders, parents and learners themselves. Participants agreed on ways of improving coordination of the instructions to Sunday School children, the youth and catechumens in the parish.
Solutions included ways of building the capacity of instructors of the youth and catechumens through the School of the Faith Formation Programme that is running in the Diocese and targeting instructors of Sunday School children. Participants also agreed to involve the local church leaders in monitoring instructions of Sunday School children, the youth and catechumens in all the 12 prayer centres of the parish. They shared an approved diocesan syllabus for such instructions and a checklist for monitoring such instructions and general welfare of children, the youth and catechumens.
At the end of the meeting, the Parish Priest donated some items to the instructors. Each prayer centre received a professional football for children. Each instructor also received a solar powered lamp and a solar powered radio in order to help them when preparing lessons at night and listening to faith formation programmes on the Diocesan Radio, Tuntufye FM Radio.
Also present during the meeting were the Diocese’s Sunday School Programme Coordinator (Mr Benjamin Msowoya), the Diocese’s Catechetical Material Production Officer (Mr Ignatius Mvula) and the Catechetical Methodology Advisor in charge of St Martin De Pores Parish (Mr Paul Mwandira).