Friday 31st January, 2025, saw the beginning of the School-Laboratory of online formation for formators, both current and future, organized by the Interprovincial OCDS Coordination of Italy.
During this first online meeting, more than 250 members of the Secular Order from the various Provinces, Semi-Provinces and Commissariats of the OCDS of Italy participated in the session.
In his Letter to the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites on 15th August 2023, our Father General wrote: “Formation for the Secular Carmel is an essential and necessary element: «The central objective of the formation process in the Secular Order is to prepare the person to live out the charism and spirituality of the Carmel in his or her way of following Christ and for the service of his or her mission » (Const. 32). (…) The fundamental elements of the formation are the human, Christian and Carmelite dimensions.”
The four sessions of this first phase of the School focus especially on the human dimension of the formation. Their goal is to offer basic principles, for the purpose of taking responsibility and accompanying the person in formation, so that the formator is enabled to welcome the person being formed with all his or her existential and formational baggage, while helping him or her to acquire a way of thinking, feeling and living that is impregnated by the Carmelite charism.
