The Xavier School of Evangelisation is/ will be a dynamic and flexible process and resource that will place the Church’s mission to evangelise, (Evangelii Nuntiandi 14) at the heart of Holy Spirit Seminary’s formative process. Its aim shall be two-fold:
· To integrate elements of theoretical-practical training for evangelisation into the wider formative process of the seminarians.
· To develop a
nd offer aspects of training for leaders in evangelisation at the service of the Dioceses of Queensland. Faithful to the life and mission of Jesus Christ, and to the mission entrusted to the Church, four interrelated dimensions will ground and guide the different initiatives offered:
· The preaching of the kerygma, adapted to the sensibility of the varying realities of Queensland;
· The creation of platforms and scenarios that facilitate an attractive and credible witness that precedes and accompanies this preaching;
· Spiritual formation and supervision of leaders in the ongoing appropriate accompaniment of those involved;
· The progressive and accumulative integration of newcomers in community structures that in turn reach out to and evangelise others. (Evangelii Nuntiandi 21-24). The overall outcomes of the School are ‘two tiered’, in the sense that there are outcomes applicable to the ‘student’ and the ‘participant/project’: “participant” refers to those who attend the school for the first time; “student” refers to those who collaborate in its ongoing running, including seminarians and others identified by the Xavier School Working Group. The first year will be run mainly by this working group and others identified by them as collaborators. Subsequent years will include past participants as students, in developmental learning. In the outcomes of each theology unit this difference will hinge on the student’s involvement not only in achieving the specified outcomes but in their involvement in aiding participants to do so. This will be assessed by journaling of student in conversation with an appointed supervisor upon consultation with the Xavier School Working Group.
‘Student’ Outcomes
On completion of the two year process, students will be able to:
· Formulate and proclaim the kerygma in appropriate language for the diversity of cultural milieu of the Dioceses of QLD and beyond;
· Effectively collaborate in creating platforms that witness to the Good News of the Kingdom and provoke the irresistible question marks that open the human heart to the Gospel;
· Engender and maintain relationships of mentorship and friendship in freedom and maturity that accompany the growth of those involved in their discipleship with Christ, in a spirit of ecclesial service;
· Dialogically teach and share the faith towards the capacitation of those involved as co-collaborators in the evangelising task. Participant/Project Outcomes:
As the School advances, it will enable participants to
· Enter into and grow in a personal relationship with Christ;
· Understand and formulate what that experience means for them in a language that is accessible and communicable for their peers;
· Enter into and journey with a local ecclesial community and grow in their commitment to and service of the same;
· Take up their role and responsibility to support their local ecclesial communities in being a mature and prophetic presence of Gospel values in and for the local community.
