KEEPING THE FLAME BURNING
g) Building on the gains of formal education and academic specialization. Lastly, we talk of building on the gains of formal education and academic specialization. Truth be told, to succeed and be relevant at all in today’s highly competitive world, a level of formal education is required, even of religious women. Let us build on the gains of the formal education that our Sisters received before joining the Institute to truly be “educated African Sisters”; and seek further academic specializations in post-graduate studies in order not to forfeit many opportunities that only post-graduate specialization can hand over to us. This is mostly the case especially in the areas of: Inter-Institute collaborations; employment in sensitive diocesan, provincial or national offices; and partnership with the State and some national and international NGOs with whom we share a common interests or apostolate – from which the Institute will definitely count its benefits. We cannot allow such wondrous opportunities to slip through our hands by non-availability of qualified and competent Sisters on ground. By all good means, therefore, let our Sisters go for university education and further post-graduate specializations as much as the means allow – the opportunities to engage them will definitely come; and if they do not come on time, we look for them as part of our administrative and leadership responsibility.
It is all to keep the flame burning, to remain ever active and relevant amidst the vagaries and kaleidoscope of our current religious and socio-cultural situation today.
On this note, I heartily wish the SISTERS OF THE EUCHARISTIC HEART OF JESUS a Happy Titular Feast Day 2021!
Notes:
1 Pope John Paul II, Discourse to the Assembly of C.E.L.A.M. Port au Prince, March 9, 1983; AAS 75 (1983), n. 778.
2 Instrumentum Laboris for the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops: Vatican, May 27, 2012, n. 49