Welcome to the Practice of Mentoring
Mentoring is the practice of supporting finally professed or newly ordained MSC who have completed initial formation and are now in their first five years of ministry.
The first five years… [2017 General Chapter]
27. One of the areas which we feel needs major attention throughout the Congregation is for our MSC living the first 5 years of ministry. What we have heard and listened to is of major concern… men left on their own, no spiritual accompaniment, no follow up, no connection with superiors; loneliness; many young men felt lost and with no real sense of direction. By the way this was not in all parts of the congregation but enough to warrant this issue to be raised at this Chapter… No wonder some of our young men are leaving or getting in to trouble.
28. Recommendation:
- Someone in the province is officially appointed to be directly responsible for those in the first years of ministry, assisted at times by a team or by the formation board.
- Regular meetings are programmed for those in the first years of ministry, in which there is group sharing about problems experienced and also practical input concerning topics relevant to their situation. These meetings are at least on a yearly basis [more often is encouraged where possible.].
- A system in which a number of mature confreres are selected to serve as mentors for those in the first five years of ministry. Regular contact is had with the mentor who is: to provide supervision, guidance, support and challenge; to be sponsor, friend and a model of adult intimacy that avoids infatuation and acting the role of a parent; to emphasize the positive movement taking place in the young religious and to lead him to ever deeper growth in interiority and in awareness of his own uniqueness.
The Two Aspects of Mentoring
| REGULAR MEETINGS OF THOSE IN THEIR FIRST FIVE YEARS OF MINISTRY Group Sharing Difficulties Experienced Joy’s Lived Practical Input Building Peer Support Meet Annually or More Often | MENTORING Regular Contact Supervision and Guidance Support and Challenge Sponsorship and Friendship Model of Adult / Mature Intimacy Positive Reinforcement not Criticism Deepen Interiority and Awareness |
Continuing Formation … [Emmaus Document, 2023]
Aim & Purpose
39. The MSC Society recognises that the need for personal formation is co-extensive with the life of a religious. Thus, individual members must commit themselves to continuing formation in order to ensure the quality of MSC mission in the Church and in its service to the world.
40. A specific topic and a particular concern of the formation Conference of Valladolid in 1992 was that period of the first five years of a ministerial appointment, a period in which the foundations are laid for continued personal growth in religious life and ministry. It is a stage in which the members who have completed their initial formation seek to integrate their lives and their learning into the demands of full-time ministry. The integration process is enhanced by the welcome offered to them by all involved in ministry and by recognising the values and gifts these new ministers bring to the Church and to Society.
[42 (a), (b), (c) repeat whats is above from the 2017 General Chapter
The Vallodolid document adds the following. [1]
23.3 The difficulties encountered at this state of religious life or priesthood often relate to the new minister’s acceptance or otherwise by older members. There is increasing concern in many Congregations about the growing number of those who leave soon after final vows or ordination. This could indicate weaknesses within the initial formation program or also a lack of proper support and guidance during the first years of ministry.
23.4 Although much progress has been made in recent years throughout the Society in programmes on the pre-novitiate and post-novitiate levels, the same cannot be said for programmes aimed at the first years of ministry.]
Formation a Personal Responsibility
43.1 All members have responsibility for their own formation. They are called to facilitate an integration harmonising of the diverse elements of personal, religious and apostolic life into the concrete cultural, social and environmental situation in which they are called to exercise their ministry. Members are called to integrate the affective, spiritual, communitarian, apostolic and intellectual elements of human life into their own lives. The self-discipline required for this will produce an autonomy that is mature and open to challenge, change and adaptation.
Spiritual Life [2]
44.1 A necessary condition of the missionary is to be a disciple of the Lord, who lives the personal relationship into which he is called.
44.2 Relationship with the Lord and its expression in life and mission will be supported by personal spiritual accompaniment. This will encourage an openness in prayer and finds its fullest expression in the Eucharist.
44.3 The freedom of the member’s commitment to this life and mission is expressed in an autonomy that allows him to be creative and open in his relationships and ministry.
Community Life and MSC Life
45.1 The life of an apostolic religious is supported by, and gives support to, their religious community. The former is particularly important at the beginning of apostolic ministry.
45.2 Community life will include the areas of prayer, ministry, sharing of personal experience, recreation and special celebrations, so that the member can feel “at home”.
45.3 Other support will be given by peer group meetings, other MSC, both provincial and inter-provincial, other religious, diocesan priests and lay people who have regard for the life and mission of MSC.
Apostolic Life
46.1 The link between initial formation and ministerial life is crucial. The member needs to be assisted to evaluate the effectiveness of his initial experiences of ministry. This is for his own personal integration and ministerial effectiveness.
46.2 Often there are conflicting values of time and energy which need to be given priority. This will assist the clarification of vision and the apportioning of work-load to the other essential elements of religious life.
46.3 Accompaniment by members who have more experience and are skilled to assist in this way is necessary.
46.4 The personal awareness of one’s limitations will assist in the adaptations that are necessary for ministerial life.
46.5 These adaptations will be facilitated by ongoing professional formation.
Intellectual Life
47.1 Care and attention should be given to assist the members to integrate the studies they undertook in preparation for ministry with the reality of the apostolate in the community and the Church.
47.2 All are asked to be open to meetings, courses and at times further studies to assist them in their personal lives and their ministerial responsibilities.
47.3 Serious reading is an ongoing necessity for all members.
Programmes of Continuing Formation
48.1 To establish the priority and support necessary for continuing formation, it is recommended that a Continuing Formation Board, or its equivalent, be established at the Provincial level. Among its main responsibilities would be to ensure an adequate programme for those in the first five years of ministry and to assist all members of the Province in the process of continuing formation for life and ministry.
48.2 Those in their first years of ministry will benefit from regular meetings that consider their life and ministry in guided shared reflection. It is suggested that this happen at least on a yearly basis, taking into account the circumstances of time and place.
48.3 A programme of supervision to assist those entering the apostolate evaluate their initial experiences of ministry is a priority.
48.4 A regular review of the relationship between initial formation and the life and ministry of apostolic religious is recommended. This review ought to include those responsible for initial and continuing formation and seek to recognise the difficulties referred to above, and then address the reasons for them in the period following initial formation. Such a programme of review would involve those in initial and continuing formation in the Province.
48.5 The Continuing Formation Board is encouraged to establish other programmes that will respond to the needs of a particular Province.
The program here is called a Mentoring Program. It clarifies the role of Mentors and highlights the need to provide those in their first five years of ministry with appropriate peer support, professional and personal development, and times for integrative process. In response to these concerns, the MSC Ongoing Formation Commission presents the following guidelines.
Mentoring Program – First Five Years
“How urgent it is today to educate and assist new generations to appropriate authentic human values and to cultivate an evangelical vision of life and history!”
Pope Francis [3]
After completing Initial Formation, there is reasonable expectation that finally professed members are ready for an active and willing service of the Church’s mission, having been trained in skills and methodology needed for pastoral engagement, community living outside a formation house, and an integral living of the vows, MSC life and the Constitutions.
Final profession and/or ordination does not bring this process of personal formation to an end, rather, as our documents stress, it is “co-extensive with the life of a religious” [4].
The first five years of ministerial appointment after Initial Formation is a time in which those new to ministry may be exposed to potential vulnerabilities that require support and guidance.
Appointments
The administration of the MSC Entity officially appoints a member assisted at times by a team or the formation board, to be directly responsible for those in the first years of ministry, both newly ordained priests and finally professed brothers.
In collaboration with this responsible person, the administration of the MSC Entity selects one or more mature confreres to serve as mentors for those members in first five years. It will be tempting to appointment mentors without any consideration of the members they will mentor. It will be crucial, however, for this selection to be made in conversation with the one in his first five years (mentee) to avoid potential conflicts of interest. We recommend the appointment of mentors follows a process of listening to the mentee to ascertain something of his personality, relational style, particular needs, and an awareness of any history of difficulty he has had with particular members. From this the profile of a suitable mentor may be gained. It is pointless to match a mentee with a mentor he distrusts, dislikes, or refuses to work with. At the same time the mentor must seek the best interests of the mentee. Effective Mentoring needs to be a supportive relationship.
In the final year of Initial Formation, preparation for the first five years mentoring program and consultation regarding choice of mentor need to take place, so that mentoring can begin with the receiving of the first ministerial appointment. With this practice we develop an understanding that mentoring is a natural part of appointment to ministry.
We recommend superiors appoint those who are entering their first years of ministry into healthy, welcoming communities that assist and engage our new MSC with their living the mission of our Society. The primary focus of appointment for those new to ministry is to provide a supportive early experience of MSC religious life and ministry, rather than using them to fill vacancies.
Mentors
A mentor is firstly a fellow MSC. Those in their first five years are finally professed members appointed to ministry. They are no longer in initial formation. While members in the first five years may not have MSC and ministry experience equal to that of their mentor, they remain nevertheless equal as members of the Congregation.
To ensure mentoring builds a relationship of support, trust and brotherhood between mentor and mentee, we recommend mentoring accompaniment takes place in a relaxed manner and in an appropriate environment that supports the values outlined in the Emmaus document and fulfils all the requirements of the MSC Entity’s policies on Integrity in Ministry and Safeguarding with which both mentor and mentee must be familiar.
Mentoring must never promote an abuse or imbalance of power between mentor and mentee. Mentor(s) need to be men of good pastoral experience and maturity, prudent and not directive or controlling, willing and reliable enough to connect for regular mentoring of those in their first five years.
A mentor needs to be a model of adult intimacy that avoids infatuation or dependency, or favoritism, or acting the role of a parent; “to emphasize the positive movement taking place in the member in his first five years and to lead him to ever deeper growth in interiority and in awareness of his own uniqueness” [5]
A mentor must be prudent about seeking mutuality in the relationship. It is seldom appropriate or helpful for a mentor to share matters pertaining to his intimate personal story with the mentee to strengthen the bond between them.
Mentors provide friendship, guidance, support and challenge, through empathic listening and compassionate action. Mentors do not need to scold those they accompany, they avoid focusing on the negative and support the member through positive reinforcement.
Both the mentor and the mentee take responsibility for arranging and committing to regular (at least monthly) accompaniment sessions.
Some MSC Entities have more than one member in the first five years of ministry and this, potentially more than one mentor. Usually, the confrère appointed to be responsible for mentoring or ongoing formation will organize gatherings of those in their first five years. However, if circumstances require one, or even a team of mentors, may organize or facilitate these peer gatherings. Tasks relating to this role are discussed in the section Ongoing Formation Sessions for those in the First Five Years below.
Mentors do not write progress reports on mentees for administration or other purposes, as would happen in a formation setting. A mentor may, if asked by leadership, give feedback on how the mentoring process is going but only in matters relating to the external forum. Prudence and confidentiality must always be respected in matters of internal forum.
Training of Mentors
Mentoring is not spiritual direction, counselling, or clinical supervision. Mentors do not need professional training in these skills and having them is not necessarily an advantage. It may even be a hinderance if the mentoring accompaniment became preoccupied with spiritual guidance, resolving personal issues, or checking on the member.
On the other hand, such professional skills may give increased capacity for empathetic listening, compassionate action, and just being a supportive confrère. Good mentoring models the need for ongoing formation, so the mentor himself will undertake whatever updating he might need to have the skills to mentor well.
Training for mentors may include;
- The practice of empathetic listening. Seeking training in Primary Accurate Empathy may be an advantage.
- Facilitating personal and group experience, including guiding group sharing, setting boundaries that enable confidentiality, empowerment of mentees, (You could undertake the MSC Facilitation Training promoted on this site.)
- Formation of the Heart: Leading process-oriented group reflection, sharing and evaluation. The accompaniment model of Heart Spirituality. (See content on this website).
- Communal Wisdom discernment (see content on this website – you will need to login to the website to access Communal Wisdom materials).
- Programs that provide a diversity of practical input that can be used in peer gatherings of mentees.
- Training in methods of giving and receiving feedback.
- Integrity in Ministry, Safegaurding, and Professional Standards requirements.
- Spiritual Direction
- Pastoral Supervision
Ongoing Formation Gatherings – First Five Years
- group sharing about experiences, strengths as well as difficulties,
- practical input concerning topics relevant to their situation.
Group sharing
is to be a process-oriented reflection, sharing and evaluation, rather than lectures or presentations. Those facilitating these sessions (the MSC appointed to be responsible for mentoring in the entity, or a member of the entity ongoing formation team, or one or more of the mentors) ned to be capable of facilitating experience in this way.
A Process of Reflective Sharing
This following is an example used in one of our MSC Entities of focus questions guiding a process of reflective sharing with those in first five years. The questions were presented one at a time. Participants were invited to prayerfully reflect in silence on the question for about ten minutes. They were encouraged to write what came to them as they reflected. Then in small groups of three or four they shared with each other the fruits of their reflection time. Sometimes the facilitators asked them for feedback in the whole group but most of the time the small group sharing carried the participants into deeper bonds. The questions used were;
- How has been your MSC life and ministry so far?
- How did you experience God’s love in your ministry?
- What challenges, difficulties or struggles have you faced or are you facing?
- Did you overcome them? If so how?
- What do you consider as the most significant achievement in your ministry?
- How are you living the vows of Obedience, Chastity, Poverty?
- To whom do you look for support?
- Do you feel supported by the MSC community? If yes, how? If not explain why?
- How do you pray?
Practical input
The practical input sessions may include such topics as;
- Health, Wellbeing, Stress
- Interior Life, Discipline of Prayer, Spiritual Direction
- Authority, Obedience, Power, Clericalism
- Management, Pastoral Administration
- Sexuality, Celibacy, Right Relationships,
- Community living, Conflict Management, Emotional life
- Loneliness, Isolation
- Poverty, Accountability, Transparency
- Professional and Personal Development, Ministry Supervision
Brotherhood
A third important aspect of the gatherings is to create the space in which those in their first five years have time with their peers to pray together, reconnect and tell stories, socialise, have fun, relax and replenish. Experience of these gatherings shows they build a sense of belonging, strengthen friendship and animate energy for mission.
These gatherings should be convened at least once a year and where possible more often.
Formation of the Heart
During the 2018 APIA Formators Conference the participants developed a statement [9] on the fundamental elements of a ‘Formation of the Heart’ – the underpinning orientation of MSC formation and Heart Spirituality. This is a valueable document to help guide a process-approach to mentoring. It can be viewed by clicking here.
[1] Valladolid Documents, World Conference of MSC Formators. July, 1992 #23.5
[2] MSC Constitutions & Statutes. Rome, 2005. #14
[3] Address of the Holy Father, Pope Francis to the members of the General Chapter. 16th September, 2017
[4] Valladolid Documents, World Conference of MSC Formators. July, 1992 #23.1
[5] Valladolid Documents, World Conference of MSC Formators. July, 1992 #23.5
[6] Insight; a study of human understanding. B. Lonergan. Oxford, England: Philosophical Library, 1957.
[7] Method in Theology. Bernard Lonergan. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1972.
[8] [adapted from, Bernard Lonergan drew a map of theology for a new era. by Dennis M. Doyle. National Catholic Reporter, 30 January, 2017
[9] Formation of The Heart. APIA Formators Conference, Kensington, NSW, Australia. 15 September, 2018
Ongoing Formation Commission 2019
General House, Rome