PHILDHRRA Mindanao Members hosted Urban and Rural Immersion of ACDO Seminarians

The member NGOs of PhilDHRRA Mindanao in partnership with the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro actively engage with eight Galilean Seminarians of the St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in their urban and rural exposures. Their immersions are part of a three - month Socio-Pastoral exposure program, covering the period of 08 to 14 January (Urban) and 22 January to 02 February 2009. Selected member NGOs that hosted the immersions are, namely, TOUCH Foundation, GROUP Foundation, MASS-SPECC, KAANIB Foundation, IPHC-DMSF, KAPWA Upliftment, and PhilDHRRA of Caraga and Convenio Projects.

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The urban and rural immersion of the seminarians highly considered the geographic and thematic areas of their exposure. For PhilDHRRA members alone, four provinces were chosen for exposure: Bukidnon (KAANIB & MASS-SPECC), Davao (IPHC & KAPWA Upliftment), Camiguin (TOUCH Foundation), and Caraga (PHILDHRRA Caraga & Convenio Projects). Meanwhile, their immersion themes were Agrarian Reform, Cooperative Development, Sustainable Agriculture, Health Governance, Gender and Development, Ancestral domain of the Indigenous Peoples, Coastal Resource Management, Solid Waste Management, Enterprise Development, and Local Governance.

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Dubbed as “Transformative Pastoral Leadership Training”, the program was developed in response to achieving a holistic and integral theological study of the seminarians. Focusing on the social realities and life of the church, the said program looked into the challenges of providing the right venue and opportunity for seminarians to experience and learn the real situation of marginalized communities. It is grounded on the conviction that pastors can be catalysts in the church’s social-conscience formation. It also believes that they can be more responsive to the emerging signs of the times, especially the worsening condition of the margins.

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Owing to this realization, there is an urgent need to instill strong “socio-pastoral consciousness and responsibility” integrated in the theological training of future pastors even while they are still in the seminary formation. At the end of three - month training formation, the seminarians are expected to be psychologically and spiritually prepared for a longer deployment (six months) in selected parishes for their pastoral mission. This assignment will require them to apply their learning in addressing the conditions of the poor in the respective dioceses.