Sumedha Outreach: Workshop for Seminary Formators

Director of Sumedha Centre, Dr. Jose Parappully, a clinical psychologist, was invited to conduct a one-day workshop for the Seminary formators of all the dioceses of Madhya Pradesh.

It was organized by Fr. Mathew Vallatt, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Bhopal and the Secretary of the MP Region Formator’s Forum. It was held at the Diocesan Pastoral Centre, Bhopal on December 4, 2016. There were 16 participants from nine diocese.

Dr. Parappully organized the workshop around the theme “”Formative Accompaniment & Emotional Maturation”

He focused on the kind formation process that facilitated emotional maturation. He covered the following topics in this regard:  the role of trust in healthy emotional development; Importance of meeting basic emotional needs such as relatedness, competence and autonomy; facilitation of an environment that fosters these basic needs; and the need for formators to be credible and enthusiastic about the formation process.

There was ample opportunity for participants to reflect on and share their experiences in the light of the psychological insights presented.

Participants said they found the workshop – content and process- immensely helpful.

Sumedha Outreach - Retreats.

Director of Sumedha Sadhana, Jose Parappully, facilitated two spiritual retreats recently.

The first from December 4-9, 2016, was for another group (he had done a group earlier in October) priests of the archdiocese of Bhopal. This time there were 34 priests. The theme of the retreat was “Priest: Mystagogue & Doctor of the Soul.” This retreat was held at Jesu Ashram, on the outskirts of Bhopal City.

The second retreat from December 29, 2016 to January 2017, was for 54 sisters of the congregations of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian sisters) of the Province of Guwahati.

This spiritual retreat was designed as a desert journey modeled on the experience of Jesus in the desert (Mark 1, 12-13). It  provided the participants an opportunity to spend time in the metaphorical desert around the Word of God to experience “Wilderness & Paradise,” to encounter their “inner demons” and their “ministering angels”, to renew the love, the enthusiasm and the passion they had at the beginning of their vocational journey (Rev. 2, 4 ), to recognise their helplessness and surrender in faith and trust to a loving God who calls them to deep intimacy with him (Hosea 2, 16-17) which in turn leads to transformation of their self and their ministry in powerful ways (1Kings 19, 1-8).

Participants of both retreats described these retreats as “different” from what they had been used to and found them very useful. What they found most helpful was the atmosphere of silence and solitude that was created and the time they were able to spend in personal prayer around the Word of God, according to the themes of each day.

A similar retreat is offered at Sumedha Centre in May 2017. Registration is open. Contact sumedhacentre@gmail.com