Joyce Almeida
MATUNGA, JUNE 29, 2008: The ‘Year of St. Paul’ that began today across the universal Church, was solemnly launched in the Salesian Mumbai Province with a Recollection for Catechism teachers from the Catholic schools of the North Mumbai (East) Deanery. This Deanery comprises six parishes and has eight Catholic schools within its area. A total of 108 teachers attended this spiritual growth programme which began at 5.00 pm and was held at Don Bosco High School, Matunga. The theme chosen for the Recollection was: ‘Paul the Faith Formator Par Excellence’. Explaining the theme, Fr. Cletus D’Souza, the preacher for the evening, emphasized that Paul was easily one of the best models for faith formators. Paul knew Jesus, he loved Jesus and this is what led him to proclaim Jesus. Hence, Fr. Cletus called on the teachers present to build up a personal relationship with Jesus if they wanted to be effective in their ministry of faith formation. “Unless you yourself live a vibrant faith, you cannot form others in the faith”, Fr. Cletus pointed out to the participants. After the opening talk, the teachers watched a video film entitled ‘Saul to Paul’. This was followed by a discussion in small groups. This discussion enabled the participants to reflect on the ministry of Paul and to draw parallels with the faith formation ministry they themselves are engaged in. The last item on the agenda for the evening was a prayer session conducted in the form of the Lectio Divina. This moment of prayer, which was led by Sheryl Dalgado and team, was centered on the Gospel passage of the day and focused on the question, ‘Who do you say I am?’ The participants were invited to give a personal response to this question, since it was this response that would set the foundation of their faith formation ministry. The Recollection concluded with dinner at 8.00 pm for all the participants.