Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: Celebrating Blessed Edmund

Monday, May 11, 2009

Celebrating Blessed Edmund

On the 5th May each year, the Congregation of Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers around the world join together to celebrate their founder’s day. Here in Tamale, we had a wonderful celebration.
It was a unique day; a strong wind took charge at the crack of dawn while birds sung their glorious melody to usher in the new day. This was later followed by showers of mild rain which lasted for the better half of the day. It was a cool day contrary to what had been taking place here and I think the first timers to this part of Ghana would declare Tamale as one of the coolest places.
We started with some cleaning by cutting short the grass around our compound. This marries with our vision of taking care of the universe and it appeared significant that it be done on this day.

Anyway time moved by and celebrations began with the Eucharist with Fr. Michael Heap as the celebrant. “We are called to love not to like” was one of the few remarks from the priest which appealed to me as far as the community and inter-cultural living is concerned. Br. Vivek also gave a reflection on the life of Edmund Rice. It made the brothers present to reflect for a while about this mysterious man. We were so blessed that we sung our own home composed song in honor of blessed Edmund. For more information don’t hesitate to contact Frank Borbor Jr.
After the Eucharistic celebration, we had a barbeque. The social committee did their best to see that everything was in control.
We had a number of visitors on this day amongst them Br. Chris Teh, the West African District Leader, our community from Choggu, and the Presentation Brothers. In fact it was a good day full of blessings. Joy was written on everyone’s face. It was colorful and enjoyable. The world broke up into silence at around 10:00pm when music stopped and the brothers retired to bed.
(Otieno & Chris)

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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?”