Spiritan Postulancy, Namugongo

P.O.Box 3175, Kampala,Uganda

 

 

“A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step.”(Confucius). The postulancy is the first step of a life long Spiritan formation journey. Postulancy comes from the Latin postulare “to request.” This is the time when a candidate makes a request to join the Spiritan family. Since 1990 there were consistent calls from three East African Province Chapters to have a Spiritan postulancy programme. Nothing was done until September 1998, when the postulancy programme opened in Uganda with 10 postulants, at Kyebando with Fr. John Assey as the director of the postulants assisted by Fr. Peter Mulyanga.

 

Frs. Kizito and Kiganda and Postulants                                                                      

Due to lack of space for expansion at Kyebando, 10.24 hectares of land were bought at Jjanda-Namugongo and the postulancy was built and transferred there in 2001. It was officially opened by His Eminence, Cardinal Wamala. By then, postulants came from all over East Africa but now this formation center is only for Ugandan postulants. Kenya and Tanzania have their postulancy houses. Currently (2008/9), there are four postulants with one resident formator. The center has two dormitories, one administration block, and two class rooms. A kitchen, dining hall and chapel are under construction.   

Applicants are required to have completed A level (senior 6) with at least 2 principle passes. They apply to the vocation director. They are invited to live within a Spiritan community for a period of two weeks in February and May before a final selection is made. Those admitted are required to report in October.  

 

 Purpose

The purpose of this stage of formation “is to bring the candidate to a state of human and spiritual development where he is capable of a free and mature decision to enter the novitiate.” (Guide for Spiritan Formation 49). The postulancy programme stresses the following elements in formation (Cf. Guide for Spiritan Formation 49): 

• That a student develops a sound judgment and the basic human and Christian qualities needed for personal and social life.
• That a student shows physical, psychological and emotional health.
• That a student develops and shows capacity to live and work together in community.
• That a student shows satisfactory knowledge and understanding of basic doctrines of the Christian faith.
• That a student shows a balanced spiritual life, an appreciation of prayer, private and communal and sacramental life. He appreciates silence and be open to the world we live in.

 

The postulancy programme at Jjanda-Namugongo is for one year, even though technically postulancy is the whole period from entry into the postulancy to the novitiate. The next stage of formation is Spiritan Missionary Seminary, Njiro where students do philosophy in multicultural set up.

           A Journey of 1000 Miles Begins with a Single Step