Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: February 2014

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

HOSPITALITY BY THE LAKE

During 2013 our community at the novitiate got to know the Jesus, Mary and Joseph Sisters (or JMJ for short), especially because two of them came here for two weeks in September for the Training for Transformation workshop. They have their four communities in Ghana some distance from us, but after Christmas we were happy to accept their invitation to visit two of the communities near Lake Volta.

Lake Volta is the largest man-made lake in the world, so the trip to the lake and crossing on the ferry was an exciting experience for us all. It was even more exciting for some of us who had never been on such a vast body of water or on a vessel as large as the ferry, which accommodates trucks and other vehicles.

Our stay in the JMJ communities at Yeji and Atebubu was most enjoyable. The Sisters’ hospitality was lavish, to put it mildly, and we all came home a little heavier. The spirit of Christmas celebration was happily prolonged, as the photos suggest.

Waiting Impatiently for the Ferry???

Ferry - here at last and unloading.

Novices happily on board the Ferry!

Novitiate Bus safely parked on the Ferry!

Donation or Draining Out! Martin donating blood!

After Novices have donated blood, a pose with Sr Laura JMJ (Lab Technician) and her team - to remember that time they were almost out of blood!

Another big meal just before leaving the JMJ Community at Yeji!

Superior of Atebubu JMJ Community, Sr Scholastica - takes novices around the the 90 acres of land!

JMJ Novice and CFC Novices posing with Sr Scholastica in front of the newly built Shrine.

Novices amazed by the environment - different from their home town, Tamale.

Celebrating the Feast of the Holy Family with the JMJ Sisters. Also the JMJ Feast Day!

JMJ Regional Superior cuts the Feast Day Cake!

JMJ Sisters, Christian Brothers and their Novices.

Departing Atebubu - with a little gain of weight.

Farewell wave from the JMJ Sisters.

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?”