Deepen the reasons for the faith. The diocesan school of theological formation restarts

Again this year, the Diocesan school of theological formation. The inauguration of the formative year will take place on Thursday 10 November at 5 pm at Mediterranean center of pastoral care and culture “St. John Paul II” to Lecce (former new seminar).

Recipients are all the lay faithful, who have reached the age of eighteen, women religious and all those who are on the path of discernment in the parish community to be witnesses and collaborators in the various pastoral areas: evangelization and catechesis, liturgical life, services Caritasguides in lay groups, movements and associations.

The purpose of the School it is to help the layman and consecrated person to deepen the reasons for their faith in order to live it coherently. He writes the document of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Theological formation in the particular Church: “Schools of theological formation are born with the aim of introducing theological knowledge and offer a basic formation for this purpose. For this reason it is desirable to have them increasingly widespread. It is within them, in fact, that it will be possible to carry out a certain recruitment of forces, which will promote the to think Christian and not only theAct. The wealth of ministries of the Word also depends on a careful discernment of the capacities that can be manifested within the basic theological schools. Every Christian must be helped to discover his own vocation and to fulfill it, so that the spirituality and apostolate in each local church can mature with the active but specific contribution of each one. Therefore, it is not a question of favoring a minimal generic formation, to consecrate a rather low level of theological capacity, or worse still to hide shortcomings and validate illusions. It is a question of educating to the seriousness of the sacrifice required by “Christian thinking”, where reason and faith are intertwined, without getting confused, and stimulate each other to grow. In this perspective, the primary purpose of theological formation schools is to help believers make their own the tools and methods necessary to carry out, at an initial and global level, the theological function proper to each member of the Church. At the same time they provide the acquisition of a language and a perspective that make it easier both to listen to the Word, written and handed down, and to dialogue with the world ”.

The training offer of the Diocesan school of theological formation it is organized around the fundamental themes of faith and Christian experience (LAWS). It intends to be a proposal and an in-depth listening to the Gospel message, a serious study of I believe of the Church, a critical confrontation with cultures and religions. The training is distributed over a three-year course (LOOK). The participants have as teachers: priests, religious, lay people and the heads of diocesan pastoral offices assisted by their collaborators. Lessons are held weekly, on Thursdays from 5 to 8 pm and regular attendance is recommended. Students are invited to support dialogue-tests with teachers, also through written works. At the end of the three-year period, the student will be given a certificate of participation.