Formation in leadership and mission

Aug 07, 2014

By Lucia Lai
In November 2013, Pope Francis issued his Apostolic Exhortation called Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) which outlines the Pope’s vision for a missionary Church whose ‘doors should always be open’.

The Penang Diocesan Pastoral Institute (PDPI) has embarked on a course to make Catholics better understand the document. There will be six sessions, each covering one chapter of the document, including the introduction. The speakers include PDPI’s director, Dr Steven Selvaraju, Bishop Sebastian Francis and Martin Jalleh.

“The Joy of the Gospel has been described as a ‘remarkable and radical document’ filled with encouragement, challenges, explanations and challenges, and will be useful for the lay persons in their call to become disciples of Christ” said Dr Steven. “Therefore, we would like to help the lay person probe deeper into the document, understand its richness and apply it in their daily lives.”

This course is the third in a series of modules organised by PDPI to provide formation which is in line with the Peninsular Malaysia Church 2014 theme, “Discipleship: Called, Chosen and Sent”. Since the beginning of the year, two modules, Faith and Revelation and Christian Leadership and Mission have been held. In September, the final module on Discipleship Through the Eyes of Matthew will be presented by Sr Margarete Sta Maria, FdCC.

PDPI has also been offering a one day programme, which is held once a month, in Tamil on Christian Leadership and Mission.

It is hoped that through these formation programmes, laypersons in the diocese of Penang will come to a greater awareness and become more involved in the mission of the Church, as envisioned by Pope Francis.

For enquiries for the formation programmes organised by PDPI, please contact 04-2611350/ 2611309 or visit its website at http://www.pdpinstitute.org.