Indian Religious focus on next generation leaders

(June 23,2010) The Conference of Religious India - CRI, plans a special scheme to prepare Religious congregation leaders meet challenges . The CRI is to launch a special scheme to prepare new Indian Religious congregation leaders, to meet challenges posed by the country’s expected rapid development in the next decade. “There are many people predicting that India will be a developed country by the year 2020, and the Catholic Religious will have to prepare for that,” said Brother Mani Mekkunnel, CRI national secretary.
The conference will organize courses on “Visions for the future,” for young Religious in its 13 regions across India. “We are planning to bring one Religious aged between 30-35 from each region for the program,” Brother Mekkunnel explained. The first session is scheduled for July 1-4 at the Renewal Centre in Kochi, for the Kerala region. The program will conclude with a national convention in March, 2011 in Pune, where more than 1,000 young Religious are expected to attend. CRI represents more than 125,000 Catholic Religious brothers, priests and nuns in India. Some 30,000 religious are aged between 30–35. Brother Mekkunnel said that Religious who participate in the program would become leaders in their congregations and regions by the year 2020. Many of the traditional functions done by Religious today will become irrelevant in the next ten years, said Brother Mekkunnel. The Religious will have to look for ways to make their life meaningful and purposeful, he said, adding nothing will be imposed on the participants during the program. It would be a collective search, he added.