On Going Formation: Facilitation Training Practicum (II)

On Easter Sunday this year (20th April 2025), ten of us from the Chevalier family, including four Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH), one Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart (MSS), and five Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), gathered at the Ursuline Sisters convent in Rome to begin a time of growing together in the skills of group facilitation. 

 

Before this workshop, we had embarked on an online journey to learn the theory and dynamics of group facilitation. We diligently completed the first four online modules in just over a month and participated in an online learning community (OLC) comprising 3-4 members, where we practised the art of mirroring our experiences of challenges to one another. In the OLC, we took turns holding space for each person to share, resisted the urge to solve problems, and opened ourselves to the Spirit for inspiration through words and images that could illuminate our experiences. It was also a time for me to become more intimately acquainted with my group in their ministries around the world. During that first month, each of us was closely guided by an experienced trainer who checked in on our progress with the course content and any challenges we encountered. This created anticipation as we gathered in Rome to finally meet in person. There were twelve participants who initiated the journey, but two were unable to join us in Rome due to visa and other issues. We were also joined by three trainers: Wendy Bignell, Gene Pejo, and Chris Chaplin, the latter two from the General Leadership Team of the MSCs. 

 

The workshop officially commenced on Easter Monday, when we were introduced to one another and to the communal wisdom process that involved listening as a stepping stone to what the Spirit was conveying to us collectively. During the morning break, news began filtering in that Pope Francis had passed away earlier that day. Disbelief quickly transformed into shock and sadness. For many of us, Pope Francis had been a wellspring of inspiration and wisdom. His constant encouragement for the Church to take risks, to reach out to the peripheries, to be a field hospital for the wounded, for pastors to smell like the sheep, and for all of humanity to care for our common home left an enduring challenge as we navigated our loss over the next few days. We brought some of these insights and sentiments to share during the opening Mass as part of our initiation into this practicum. Grief would become a consistent vulnerability during our time together and perhaps a ‘thorn in the flesh’ too, as during that period, news arrived of other losses we also faced individually of people we knew.

 

For the next few days in that first week, we took turns in pairs to lead each facilitation, based on a pre-planned communal wisdom process. We also had fun alternating to facilitate the group in various scenarios that involved brainstorming and role-playing. The review after each session was essential as we learnt to be sensitive to what worked and what didn’t. The trainers provided valuable feedback, and I felt like I learnt so much about the actual group dynamics and how I came across to others in such a facilitation scenario. We could frame our learning to sense the Spirit according to the four movements of the Spirituality of the Heart: encounter, intimacy, conversion, and mission. We experienced varying degrees of comfort in this process of group facilitation and communal discernment, but it was certainly a concrete expression of living out a heart spirituality. 

 

The first week concluded with the decision to participate in the funeral requiem Mass for Pope Francis. The turnout in Rome that day was nearly half a million. After that, we returned, and Chris and the trainers led a session where we communally processed how we had been affected by the losses and the letting go of the past week. This began with finding a symbol that represented our grief and placing it in the central heart-space to honour our reality. The process ended as we sensed the Spirit’s prompting in each other to give thanks for what is/was and to come together to celebrate life as a community. This was one of the highlights for me during the practicum that I remember well.

 

In the second week of the practicum, we continued to fine-tune the art of facilitation through deep listening to each other’s sentiments, including conflict, and to the Spirit calling us collectively to mission from that place of willing vulnerability. I have learnt to better read the group and trust my instincts in leading as a facilitator, coming to see facilitation as a gracious stance in life. I have also made some wonderfully gifted friends and collaborators in the Lord’s vineyard, and for all of this, I am most grateful.