የዓዲ ግራት ጳጳስ ብፁዕ አቡነ ተስፋሥላሴ መድኅን ለልዩ የአፍሪቃ ጳጳሳት ሲኖዶስ ሁለተኛ ጉባኤ ያደረጉት ንግግር በእንግሊዘኛ ቋንቋ

H. Exc. Mons. Tesfaselassie MEDHIN, Bishop of Adigrat (ETHIOPIA)

I have not noticed enough attention accorded to formation which is a fundamental subject to the Church in Africa as she renders her service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace, as "... the salt of the earth ...and the light of the world".

The Church carries out her mission through her structures and institutions, and most basically through Bishops, priests, Religious men and women, catechists and the lay faithful who, at their respective levels, have to play the role of Guides and models in Christian communities as "reconcilers", "just persons", "peace makers".

Priestly Formation work is crucial for this objective to be realized.

We must therefore ensure that the formation we give to our future priests and agents of evangelization helps them be cognizant of the challenges, self-confident, balanced and mature ministers who could stand against and through the serious turbulences of the time.

Recommendations:

- There is a serious need to understand the destructive pressures and challenges confronting our societies in Africa today, with special attention to families and youths. This calls upon the Church to design more specific formation programmes.

- The Formation Programmes of the Major Seminaries and Houses of Religious Formation should be given serious attention and evaluation, to determine their quality and effectiveness in producing members of the church who can be true witness to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace

- Use our higher learning institutes by establishing a faculty which develops and integrates into its modules the best practices and most effective African cultural ways of reconciliation mechanisms to cater for the training of resource personnel in service to reconciliation, justice and peace, who could render their services at the national, regional and continental levels as need be.

- Appreciation of diversities in our African societies is a reality that cannot be underestimated.