This summer, the Conference's ForMission program reached a milestone: Sr. Maria Nabakka, IHMR, Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Reparatrix from Uganda, became the first participant to complete a session entirely through distance learning.
Her experience offers a window into what 'forming the formators' looks like when geography is no barrier to vibrant community, shared prayer, and transformative learning.
For Sister Maria, joining online was more than a logistical arrangement—it became an occasion for real interior movement. In a written reflection on her experience, she described the summer session as a moment of grace and self-discovery that helped her "re-focus" her vocation and name the strengths, defenses, and needs she carries into formation ministry. Far from feeling distant from the community of learners, she found that presentations and small-group sharing opened something in her: an awareness that formation work is, at its root, "the work of grace."
Drawing on the image of a grain of wheat that must fall to the ground and die in order to bear fruit, Sr. Maria reflects that a kind of daily dying is part of her own growth, so that she can help others toward the interior freedom formation is meant to serve. She found a companion for this insight in the story of Abraham, whose obedience to a call whose destination he could not see became, for her, "a master class" in what it means to say yes to God without full clarity about the road ahead.
That theme of small, daily faithfulness runs throughout her reflection. She writes that formation is not about producing perfect people, but about forming hearts able to respond to God's invitation as it meets them in ordinary life. The online format itself seemed to invite this kind of slowing down as she described the session as an invitation to listen more deeply to her own story and to the quiet ways God works through seasons of struggle, change, and renewal.
Underneath the theological and pastoral insight, Sister Maria's reflection returns again and again to a simple conviction about identity: that she is precious in God's eyes and unconditionally loved. She closes her reflection with a prayer entrusting the work of formation itself to God, asking simply to be used "as you see fit."
Sr. Maria's participation demonstrates that distance learning need not dilute the depth of the ForMission experience. As RFC serves vowed religious and their mission partners across a wide range of locations and circumstances, her journey stands as an encouraging example of how the program's formative power can travel—carried not by physical proximity, but by openness of heart.
Her experience also points to a practical reality for congregations and formators: distance learning options remove real barriers—travel costs, visa timelines, etc.—without asking participants to sacrifice the depth of encounter that formation work requires.
Although Sister Maria was the first to complete a ForMission session by distance learning, she certainly won't be the last.
Thank you, Sr. Maria Nabakka, IHMR for being part of the ForMission learning community and sharing part of your journey!