A proposed on-going formation program for the lovers of the Holy Cross congregation in Quinhon, Vietnam

• Main Author: Tuyet, Vo Thi
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2007
• Subjects: Women missionaries > Quinhon (Vietnam); Christian life > Quinhon (Vietnam); Sisters (in religious orders, congregations, etc.); Nuns > Quinhon (Vietnam); Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/1172; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_doctoral/article/2173/viewcontent/CDTG004149_P__3_.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study offers a proposed on-going formation program for the Lovers of the Holy Cross Congregation (LHC) in Quinhon, Vietnam. The program aims to respond to the Churchs call for continued formation and the LHC vision so that the LHC sisters can carry out their mission more effectively. The Brian P. Halls theory of Values shift to change negative thinking, speaking and acting to positive thinking, speaking and acting are the key concepts in this study. It focused on the values of hope, faith and trust. To apply values shift to their lives, the sisters have to be grounded on foundation values, education values and care values. The foundation values are knowledge values found in the disciplines of theology, philosophy, psychology, sociology and anthropology. Education values in the LHC include the six areas of formation-psychological maturity, prayer, vows, community, intellectual and apostolic life all of which are related to four dimensions of human, Christian, religious, and the LHC charism. Care values refer to the support of the Church, Congregation, the faculty staff, the LHC sisters families, and Vietnamese government. The focus of this study is on the education values. Descriptive analysis with the use of the triangulation method of survey questions, interviews and the focus group discussion are used in this study to find out where the sisters are as far as the above mentioned values are concerned. The subjects of this study were 115 LHC sisters who took their final vows and are serving in various places in Vietnam. The established program process or pedagogy followed the following steps: the stage of pre-development (preparation of questions for survey, interview and focus group discussion), the stage of development (floating the survey, interview and group discussion with respondents and finding out the results to apply for the proposed program) the stage of implementation (created modules for the sisters based on the results of the survey, interview and group discussion). The stage of evaluation will follow after the modules will be carried out in the researchers Congregation when she goes back to Vietnam. The findings revealed that the respondents are positive in areas of psychological maturity, vowed life, intellectual development, and psychological maturity and moderate in areas of apostolic and community life. Based on the mentioned results, the on-going formation program offered six modules. The community life is in the lowest level among the six areas of formation therefore two modules are made for this area entitled: Living the Community Life and Communication to Build the Community. The next module for apostolic life, which was interpreted as moderate has been entitled as Living the Apostolic Life. As for the other areas of formation where the sisters got positive results, the modules are also offered which aimed at enable the respondents to become better and better by the integration of formation program. These modules are: Living Evangelical Counsels, How to Adjust to the Midlife, The Need of Spiritual Direction to Deepen Intimacy with God and to Help Others in the Sisters Ministries. Finally, this study only becomes useful with Gods grace, the concern of those who take the responsibility for formation, and especially the effort of the respondents.