Rome, Italy. The XXVI General Chapter offered the Congregation a unifying dream and a clear direction for our ongoing transformation. We envisioned “a Congregation of missionaries who share their lives, diversity, and resources in communities shaped by the mission… encouraging and accompanying one another as brothers through mutual listening, without excluding anyone” (QC 56). To make this vision concrete, the Chapter called us to exercise the service of authority in a synodal, responsible, and transparent manner at all levels, with particular emphasis on the formation and accompaniment of Local Superiors and Major Organism Councils (QC 58).
In continuity with this mandate, the Congregation maintains its tradition of organizing a formation course for newly elected or appointed Major Superiors. This program seeks to prepare them for their ministry of governance by deepening their experience of synodality, strengthening communion, and grounding leadership in the discernment of God’s will. It introduces participants to the Claretian style of governing and to the services and responsibilities of the General Government, fostering an integrated understanding of our shared mission. Among the objectives of the course is to cultivate in new major superiors a culture of communal and apostolic discernment, strengthen their personal, spiritual, and missionary leadership, enabling them to animate communities with the pastoral charity and apostolic zeal of Saint Anthony Mary Claret and to familiarize them with the Claretian way of governing, including the roles and services of the General Government and the spirit that animates our shared mission.
The course was held at the Generalate in Rome from January 22 to 31, 2026. The program included morning and evening sessions that blend input, personal reflection, shared discernment, and interactive dynamics. Participants receive preparatory reading materials before the course to help them engage more fruitfully with the sessions. The methodology used was dynamic, practical, and participatory, incorporating insights and suggestions drawn from major superiors who attended previous editions.
This nine-day course is designed to equip and accompany new Major Superiors in the spiritual, pastoral, and administrative dimensions of their service. Rooted in the Claretian tradition, the course helps them grow in a synodal style of leadership—a way of exercising authority that listens, discerns, collaborates, and seeks decisions “according to the heart of God.” The sessions were facilitated by members of the General Government team with the Curia collaborators. The coordinating team is composed of Fr. Mathew Vattamattam, Fr. Carlos Sanchez, and Fr. Efrén Limpo Lo.
Participants were Eguione Nogueira Ricardo (Brazil Province), Abe Ananga Élisée (Cameroon Delegation), Mauricio Salvador Borge Porras (Centroamérica Province), Darío Alonso Carvajal (Colombia-Oriental Ecuador Province), Tryphon Bimbangu Maswaku (Congo Delegation), Jijo Kandamkulathil (East Asia Delegation), Amador Tumbaga (Fr. Rhoel Gallardo Province), Peter Johnson A. (Kolkata Delegation), Francisco de Assis Lopes de Britto (Mae da Africa Delegation),Joseph Mappilaparambil (Northeast India Province), Ange Christophe Anougba (Saint Jean Paul II Delegation), José Alejandro Abarza Morales (San José del Sur Province), Paul Keller (USA-Canada Province) and Jorge Ramón Sánchez Palacios (Fatima Province).
Source: Efren Limpo Lo, CMF, Secretary General
