ગુજરાત વિદ્યાદીપમાં દેવવિદ્યા GVD_Sevasi

A Seminary for Contextual and relevant theological formation for Mission




 સેવાસીમાં આવેલ ગુજરાત વિદ્યા દીપમાં દેવ વિદ્યાના કોર્સની ગઈકાલે શરૂયાત થઇ. આ દેવ વિદ્યાના કોર્સમાં આ વર્ષે  સાધ્વીગણ અને ભક્તગણ પણ જોડાયા છે. આ કાર્યક્રમમાં  અને મહા ખ્રિસ્તયજ્ઞમાં  ગુજરાતના ચાર બીશપની હાજરીએ વધુ જોમ પૂર્યો હતો. ઇસુ સંઘના પ્રાંતપતિ રેવ. ફા. જોસ ચન્ગ્નાચેરી એસ.જે. પણ આ શુભ પ્રસંગે હાજર રહ્યા હતા. ગુજરાત વિદ્યા દીપના નવા ડીન રેવ. ફા. ફ્રાન્સીસ પરમાર તથા રેક્ટર તરીકે રેવ. ફા. જોસેફ મંગલમ એસ. જે.  આ અભ્યાસના સુકાની રહેશે. પીઢ  મિશનરી રેવ. ફા  ગાલ્દોસ એસ. જે. જેઓ હાલમાં બરડીપાડામાં સભા પુરોહિત છે તેમણે પોતાના અનુભવ અને દેવ વિધા વિષે દરેકને વધુ માહિતીસભર  બનાવ્યા  હતા. ત્યારબાદ અભ્યાસમાં નવા જોડાતા દરેકને ફૂલ આપી બહુમાન કર્યું હતું.

પુરોહિતગણ અને સાધ્વીગણ તથા અભ્યાસમાં ભાગ લેનાર ભક્તગણ મોટી સંખ્યામાં હાજર રહ્યા હતા.

આ કાર્યક્રમના ફોટા નીચે નિહાળશો.

Gujarat Vidya Deep Regional Seminary (GVD)

A Seminary for Contextual and relevant theological formation for Mission

GVD has completed fourteen years of its service to the Church in Gujarat this year. It was established in 1998 at Ahmedabad which was later shifted to its present location in Sevasi in 2004. It is a joint venture of the four dioceses and the male religious congregations to train ministers of the Gospel in Gujarat. So far the training was aimed at preparing candidates for priesthood.

Now from this year. GVD will be offering a one year certificate course for religious sisters. Planning for introducing a theology course for laity is also in progress and the response of laity has been very positive.  

Theological formation at GVD is aimed at helping the students to gain a thorough knowledge of Scripture and the living tradition and magisterium (official teaching) of the Church and a contextual grasp of the faith of the Church and its mission to the contemporary world.

It also aims to develop a relevant methodology to reflect theologically on the present emerging and evolving contexts. Care is taken to introduce the students to the importance of a deeper knowledge of the language, culture and religious realities of the State.

Click on photo to enlarge

While providing adequate facilities to interiorize their theological knowledge and insights gained through the study of the texts (Scripture-tradition-magisterium) and contexts (culture, language, socio-political-religious realities) in their personal life, they are also being trained to effectively communicate this knowledge and experience in their future field of pastoral ministries and mission-evangelization.

The above vision is being realized to some extent at GVD by focusing mainly on the following areas of integral formation:

i.               Personal Formation which includes spiritual, emotional, social, relational, dialogical dimensions, as well as the cultivation of the qualities of creativity, apostolic boldness and commitment with personal conviction.

ii.              Academic Formation in the field of theological reflection by equipping the students to respond to the contemporary contextual challenges creatively. This will include the study of biblical theology, systematic theology, moral theology, pastoral theology, the study of the living tradition and magisterium of the Church.

iii.            Contextual Formation through socio-cultural analysis and exposure programmes to the lived conditions of Christian communities and the poor. This approach demands the tools of human and social sciences for socio-cultural-political analysis to interpret reality through the eyes of the poor and the marginalized Christians and the oppressed. This process should lead to a process of theological reflection in context.

It is true that generally we gain knowledge of the people through books or through objective, intellectual knowledge which is already available as text.  Beyond this informative knowledge, there is another dimension to knowledge which is affective knowledge with love and feeling and an emotional content. Affective knowledge adds another dimension to textual and intellectual knowledge which helps us to bridge the gap between text and context.  It also helps the students to be in solidarity and to have a sense of belonging to the Christian community and feel at home with them. They feel accepted and loved by the communities to which they are sent. They learn to listen to the people and feel with them and thus gain not only informative knowledge but also experiential knowledge. Thus, those who come as outsiders gradually become insiders by undergoing a conversion to the people by learning their language and culture which ultimately should result in personal transformation.

I hope that the contextual formation received at GVD may lead the young ministers to dedicate themselves enthusiastically to the service of the faith community of the local Church as well as the civil society through the promotion of social justice, human rights, dialogue with world religions and ideologies to promote harmony and peace, along with the commitment to protect the health and wholeness of the earth. 


Report - Fr.Joseph Mangalam SJ