Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: New Years Supper

Saturday, January 2, 2010

New Years Supper

Braai's are become almost customary in this house now to celebrate the big occasion. Our social committee have got it down to an art now! So this night was no different as we treated to a wonderful meal of grilled meats, salads, vegetable rice and fruit salad. It was a far more quiet and relaxed evening. I think all the celebrations and events of the previous week caught up with most

of us and for many it was an early night! It was wonderful to have Br Rupert and Br Con join us for this celebration.

We have one more celebration to look forward to on the 4th before the novices go on their three month community experience on the 5th of January.

The next few days though will be busy with getting the necessary shopping done for community experience, for taking down the Christmas decorations and to make the house ready for the time that the novices will be away.

In many ways it reflects the time of the year ... it is both a time to look forward with hope and enthusiasm for what lies ahead, and to celebrate with hearts full of gratitude that which has been.

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What do we want this novitiate to be?

There is a saying that goes something like this: “If we don’t do what we believe in, then we’ll end up believing in what we do”. Without a vision that is authentic and alive to guide our actions, then we can settle for rationalizing the status quo or what is convenient and comfortable.
One of the first things the new team in Tamale did was to spend time beginning to articulate its vision of a novitiate beyond the basics laid down in our Constitutions. Here are some elements of what we came up with:
Novitiate is a journey, a process that involves KNOWING, EXPERIENCING and CHOOSING.
It is an INITIATION into Christian Brother religious life, so a “rite of passage” into a new identity, a time of learning and testing.
Novitiate confronts the novices with the Brother’s vocation as a call to brotherly solidarity and community, not to privilege, status and security.
It involves exploration of the basic values of faith and vocation, and the challenge to embrace these out of personal conviction and free choice.
Novitiate means understanding that a religious vocation makes a claim on the whole of the person and his life, including his inner life, his relationships and his professional activity (ministry). Furthermore, it challenges the novice to see the dynamic inter-relationship of these areas and to learn what their integration means.
Novitiate is a time of DISCERNMENT. The novice learns more deeply who he is, and what this Christian Brother life is. There is a constant back-and-forth movement between these two poles as an answer is sought to the question, “Is this where I am meant to be? Is this the life that will enable me to find my true self in God?”