Circles of Light: Continuing Education for Vocation and Formation Directors

Event Details

Theme

Through the lenses of theology, spirituality, and psychology, Circles of Light invites participants to explore key topics that support a grounded and integrated approach to accompanying women and men discerning religious life and the priesthood.

Mary Pat Garvin RSM, Ph.D.

Since 1994 Mary Pat Garvin, RSM, Ph.D. has ministered both nationally and internationally in vocation and formation ministry, explicitly focusing on the education and training of vocation and formation directors. Mary Pat has published numerous articles on vocation discernment and the formative process in Horizon: Journal of the National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC), InFormation Magazine published by the Religious Formation Conference (RFC), Human Development, as well international

journals dedicated to vocation and formation ministry. Mary Pat has served on her congregation’s general leadership team. In 2017 she was the recipient of the Religious Formation Conference’s “Penet Award” for her contribution to formation ministry both nationally and internationally. In 2025 she received the “Outstanding Leadership Award” from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in the United States. Mary Pat serves on the board of the Intercongregational Collaborative Novitiate (ICCN) in the USA.

Dates and Topics

6 July - Basic Concepts
This session will present the basic concepts of this course, which vocation and formation directors may find useful in their own ministry.  All are welcomed to this session, which is specifically designed for those new to CRA’s annual online course for vocation and formation directors.

13 July – The Autobiography: Discernment Tool “Par Excellence” (Part 1)
Requesting an autobiography from those making formal application to a religious congregation has been, for many congregations, a common practice for years.  What if the autobiography was utilized as a tool for discernment, rather than simply a document submitted, read, and then filed away never to be referred to again?  The Autobiography: Discernment Tool “Par Excellence” will explore how vocation and formation ministers can re-imagine the autobiography, designing it as a valuable discernment tool to be used throughout the entire formative journey…and beyond!

17 August – The Autobiography: Discernment Tool “Par Excellence” (Part 2)
This session will continue the exploration of the autobiography begun on July 13.  Special attention will be the use of the autobiography with those in temporary vows and beyond. 

9 September – Walking the Road to Emmaus: Accompanying Others as Jesus Did
What was it about the way Jesus accompanied the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that allowed them to finally recognize him in the breaking of the bread?  How did Jesus join, walk with, and talk with the disciples so as to empower them to return to Jerusalem, hearts burning and ready to minister in his name?  This session will explore Jesus’s way of accompanying the disciples as a model for our own ministry as vocation and formation directors.

19 October – Intercultural Living: What is it Really?
During this session we will explore current research on the theological understanding of intercultural living. We will ask: What is intercultural living, really? Although the term “intercultural” comes from sociology, within the context of religious life its meaning extends far beyond sociological categories.  Our exploration will consider the core qualities that shape intercultural living and identify specific ways vocation and formation directors can trace an individual’s growing readiness and capacity to live a full and flourishing life within an intercultural religious congregation.

16 November – AI and the Formative Process: A New Frontier
AI is a new frontier for vocation and formation directors because it touches the very terrain where human discernment, identity, and relationality unfold. This session will explore how AI carries both opportunities and risks for vocation and formation directors, as well as for those in initial formation.  This new frontier invites directors to deepen their own understanding of AI and then leverage its gifts while safeguarding the profoundly human, spiritual, and communal nature of accompaniment with those discerning life as a member of a religious congregation.

TIME
WA: 7.30am
SA, NT: 9.00am
NSW, VIC, ACT, TAS, QLD: 9.30am
Each seminar will go for 2.5 hours

REGISTRATION

Fee:
$380 for the series, 6 sessions. Participation in this course includes free access to SLIConnect: Resources for Healthy Life and Ministry, for the duration of this eCourse.

RSVP:
Friday, 28 May 2027