SALVATORIAN FORMATION IN TANZANIA TODAY

by SDS Pre-Philosophy Class of 2003

Many greetings from Morogoro, Tanzania! What follows is an article about how we are conducting Salvatorian formation in the Tanzanian Mission Pro Province today. It covers the whole story from vocation call through candidature, postulancy and novitiate and on into the scholasticate and apostolic work. This article is also special because it is the fruit of the collaboration of 5 authors. They are newly-professed Salvatorian scholastics living in the Morogoro Formation Community, and working assiduously to prepare themselves to begin philosophy studies in September. I hope you will enjoy their first effort as “international journalists” using all the ways and means at their disposal to make Christ known and loved. Fr. Daniel, SDS

VOCATIONS, by Frt. Vilanova Mahoo, SDS

Vocations here in Tanzania are promoted by our vocation director. He has a duty to pass through different areas to search for people who are interested in joining the Salvatorians. He visits different secondary schools and colleges. There he conducts some seminars. Vocations are also promoted by providing a booklet, which concerns particularly the Salvatorian way of life. In addition to the vocation director, everyone has a duty to encourage vocations. For example, those who are working in parishes attract many youth to join our Society.

One needs qualifications to be accepted. One has at least to have completed Form Six with the passing mark of Division One or Two for those who want to be priests. Those who want to become brothers should have completed at least Form Four or any technical certificate such as mechanics, carpentry, etc. In addition they should have all the qualifications needed by the general church law.

There are some procedures to be followed when one wants to join in our Society. For instance here is what I did, when I was applying to join the Salvatorians. First I wrote a letter to the vocation director. In this letter I explained the intention of my application and in which I was interested: whether I wanted to be a priest or a brother. The vocation director replied to my request and attached a letter for my parish priest asking him questions about me. The parish priest answered all the questions and returned them to the vocation director.

In the second stage, I was invited to attend a workshop, which is normally held at Morogoro Institute of Philosophy and Theology. The purpose of this workshop was to learn more about the Salvatorians, e.g., their apostolic mission and charism, and how they live community life. This workshop took about three days. It included all those who were able to attend. In my group there were people from many different parts of Tanzania.

In the third stage I and my fellows went back home to wait for an invitation letter. Normally the invitation letters are sent not less than three month before the reporting day. Happily, I received my invitation letter in January. The reporting months to the formation house are normally June and July. The formation house is the same for those who want to be a priest and brother. It is located at Namiungo in the southern part of Tanzania.

OUR FORMATION HOUSE IN NAMIUNGO, by Frt. Cuthbert Maganga, SDS

Namiungo is located in the south of Tanzania. It is in Tunduru District in Ruvuma Region. You can get there by bus, or by a combination of ship and then bus. Sometimes it is difficult to reach Namiungo. If it is rainy season it may take many hours to cover the 144 kilometres from Masasi to Namiungo due to the roughness of our roads. The indigenous people are Yao. They cultivate some crops like maize, rice, cassava, wheat and cash crop like cashew nuts. There is a good corporation between the Salvatorians and the surrounding community.

Namiungo is a Salvatorian formation house especially for candidates and postulants. Before professing our first vows we all must pass through candidature, postulancy and novitiate. Candidature takes one year; postulancy takes six months; and novitiate takes one year. During candidature and postulancy some programs are provided, various subjects are taught like church history, liturgy, catechetics, the SDS Constitution and English. Some candidates who are talented in music teach choir in small Christian communities and conduct singing practices. There are also manual works. Namiungo prepares formatees to be independent especially for the years to come. This is why work is assigned in rotation. Everyone can work in various areas or position, like garage, kitchen, garden, guest master, agriculture and maintenance of the surroundings. So everybody should work in all sections to make sure that he can fit anywhere.

Namiungo is a very good place because; some of the temporary professed and fully professed brothers also live there in order to run various activities like agriculture, dispensary, gardening, animals and carpentry. During their juniorate formation, brothers continue with a thorough religious formation. The formation director helps brothers to grow and mature in their vocations. Moreover, juniorate brothers in Namiungo do some service in the world. One such a service is teaching in schools, for example we have two brothers who teach at the local primary school. Other brothers teach catechetics, liturgy and perform pastoral activities.

In general, all of the formators, led by the local superior Fr. Jude Masawe, SDS, prepare the formatees to live in community, praying together, working together, and discerning well their vocation. We also play some games together like football in order to keep up our heath and good community spirit. So really, Namiungo is our mother and our father. Formators are trying their level best to ensure that the formatees live a true religious life. Till now Namiungo is producing good fruits. I really appreciate Namiungo because it is the root of our community life. That in short is our life of Namiungo.

NAKAPANYA NOVITIATE HOUSE, by Frt. Audifas P. Makala, SDS

The novitiate house is also situated in the South of Tanzania in a place known as Nakapanya. It is only a short drive of 30 kilometres to reach the Namiungo Formation House. At the beginning all initial formation was dome at Namiungo. But in 1990 the house was separated from the temporary professed brothers, candidates and postulants. Although the novitiate house is separate today, it is still regarded as part of Namiungo community.

The purpose of separating this house was to give the novices a wide chance to discern well their vocation. Currently, the Novice Masters is Fr. Lazarus Msimbe SDS. He does a lot to form the novices to understand and discern well their vocation and to make their mature decision before they profess their first vows. Under the guidance of the Novice Master the novices also learn the charism of the Founder, which is the charism of the Society. The canonical time for this formation is one full year.

Regarding the life in general, the Novice Master and the novices live community life together. They all share what they have together in a brotherly way. As they live together, the novices are required to be as open as they can be. This enables the Novice Master to know them well, especially their character. Knowing this, the Novice Master can more easily help them become good religious.

Additionally, during this time of formation novices are not staying idle. Instead they undertake some studies such as the Liturgy, Bible, English, History of the Church, History of the Founder, our SDS Constitution and other subjects. Not only that but they also participate in manual work such as gardening, taking care of the animals and poultry. Also in a year the novices are doing a little farm work such as harvesting cashew nuts and maize.

The Novitiate house is almost surrounded by settlements of people. Therefore, there is a constant relationship among them. Generally, that relationship is good. They share the same parish church especially, on Sundays, and some of the novices teach songs to the parish choir. Also during times of sorrow, especially when death occurs, the novices attend the funeral ceremonies. In this way the good relationships with our neighbors are maintained.

There is also an Inter-Novitiate Experience Program where the novices and the Novice Master visit one another’s Novitiate Houses. Salvatorian Sisters and local Benedictines participate in this program with us. It helps the Novices of each house to learn from others. Even the formators can learn from one another’s experience.

Sometimes, though not always, novices do apostolic works such as visiting the sick or disabled and helping the poor if they have enough to spend. Currently, the novices are teaching the boys and girls who had never attended primary school at least to read and write. Through these services that the people get from the novitiate house they slowly come to know the goodness of God, that even some who had never belonged to any religion are converted to Christianity. Hence, the Novice Master and the novices together proclaim the good news to the people as the Founder said, “proclaim good news to all people without resting till all may know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent” (John. 17:3).

MOROGORO SCHOLASTIC COMMUNITY, by Frt. Mganga, SDS

Morogoro Scholastic Community is one of the four communities found in the Tanzania Pro-Province. The other communities are: Dar-es Salaam, Masasi, and Namiungo/ Nakapanya. This community was established in the year 2000 as an independent community. It is situated on the campus of the Salvatorian Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Morogoro town, about 200 kilometres away from Dar es Salaam City. There is a good tarmac road, which makes it safe to reach the community any season of the year. So all are welcomed to visit and become familiar with the community!

Right from the novitiate some of the newly professed Tanzanians join the Morogoro Community for priestly training and to prepare for higher studies. Hence, they are called scholastics. These form the community in collaboration with other confreres from other countries. The other newly professed brothers are sent to other schools or remain members of Namiungo Community.

As an independent community we have our own superior, Fr. Daniel Pekarske, SDS from the USA. We also host SDS scholastics from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) studying philosophy or theology along with other confreres who are coming and going. In other words we are an international community primarily for all Salvatorian students from various countries. In the past we have had Salvatorian students from India and USA, but this year there are only students from two countries. As a student community, members are very busy with studies of philosophy and theology. There are currently six theologians, twenty philosophers and five pre-philosopher in our house. One Salvatorian Sister who is in third year philosophy is also part and parcel of our community. The community is also accommodating one brother who is studying at Liti Institute of Agricultures and Animals. In a real sense the members are trying their level best to balance studies and prayers, putting into consideration that we are religious.

Members don’t engage only in studies but also in apostolic work. This is usually done after classes at least once per week or per month depending on the need for the particular activities. These works are: volunteering to tutor secondary school students, ministerial work in parishes, teaching music in the local churches, helping orphans, participating in sports and games, and so forth. Because the community is primarily the house of studies the members don’t take part in self-reliance activities like gardening or raising animals. Hence, basically we depend on the benefactors who are contributing a lot to the success of our life, and to the growth of good discernment.

Also we have good relationships with the neighboring congregation houses and other laypeople: men and women, boys and girls, children, and non-Christian. At the same time there is a good collaboration with Lay Salvatorians who usually visit the community intensively. This kind of experience helps us to intensify modern relationships among ourselves and to build peace and unity in all people. In so doing they are making God known to everybody and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

Therefore, though our community may seem to be somewhat complicated, the members are doing what is supposed to be done in the appropriate manner. Members live a brotherly life despite their weakness, receiving visitors, guests and other fellow Salvatorian confreres and sisters in order to form strong relationships. So we hope in the future to have other confreres from other countries if possible to strengthen our internationality and universality as Salvatorians.

THE APOSTOLATE OF SCHOLASTICS, by Frt. Ngilangwa, SDS.

The apostolate of scholastics is done during long holidays and short breaks of Easter and Christmas. The long holiday is usually from middle June to the end of September. However, this year it will last only to the end of August. Some students are sent to parishes while others are sent to the formation houses such as Namiungo and Nakapanya or to the provincialate houses at Masasi and Dar es Salaam. Also a few will be working at our Mafia Island House helping brothers who are staying there in some apostolic work. Additionally, a few are helping at the Sister’s formation house at Masasi teaching music and computer skills.

The scholastics in parishes teach catechism and liturgy to the children and adults who are preparing themselves for First Holy Communion and Confirmation. It is helpful because you can find that in some parishes there is only one priest and one catechist. Therefore, it is difficult for them to teach in the parish and in primary schools.

Also students visit the sick, the old, and perform other charitable tasks in small Christian communities. This task goes hand in hand with reading the Word of God, meditating and praying, so as to deepen the interior relationship with the Divine Savior. They are trying to encourage the youth in different vocations, comforting the sick and those who lose hope.

Another important task performed by scholastics in parishes is to serve at the altar. They are playing a great role in distributing Holy Communion to the people. Our theologians and deacons are especially helpful during Easter and Christmas. They also teach the children who are serving at the altar and assist in the general preparation of the Eucharistic celebration.

Moreover, students teach songs in the parishes because some choirs don’t have enough or qualified teachers. This is done so as to intensify the relationship between the scholastics and the youth in the parish. Through their presence many parish youth are highly encouraged to attend church for prayers and singing practices.

Other services performed by scholastics include agriculture, gardening, trading, administrating, and some technical tasks, e.g., computer skills, maintenance and housework. In trying to live community life, scholastics give some needed fraternal support especially in the parish where one priest is living alone. So, even though the break is short, priests and brothers in the parish taste the fruit of togetherness during these holidays.

These are some of the duties of students in the holiday. But even when they are still studying at the Salvatorian Institute, some teach songs in secondary schools, some tutor primary school pupils, some give conferences and seminars, some helping the aged, orphans, etc. They are doing this so as to experience in living the realities of the ministry they are going to perform later. By study as well as dedication in a practical way to the community, they can use this opportunity to discern well their vocation.