Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: Dagomba Dancers move the novices!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Dagomba Dancers move the novices!

It was Friday afternoon towards the end of our orientation course at TICCS, that when the novices had all gathered together the beautiful Dagomba cultural dancers began. They performed three traditional dances namely, Bamaya for men only, followed by Damba the festival dance and Tora for women only.

All the novices were overwhelmed and they gave out some money which was placed on the dancer’s forehead as a sign of appreciation for the performance. Finally all the novices were invited to join the dance. It was like inviting the starving man for food since everyone was just waiting for the opportunity to dance. Peter Kabia opened the floor for the novices and as they say that if one finger gets oil it soils the others, and soon the stage was packed with novices.

It was so beautiful that everyone who passed along the road either had to bend his or her neck towards the gate or stop at the gate to stare at the troupe. I realised that we have good dancers amongst us in the novitiate. There was no Star or Guinness involved here, it was the spirit of the Choggu Dagomba Cultural dancers that moved the novices. Even some novices who rarely dance were not left out without showing their talents. James was one of them and then Nicholas who left people’s mouth watering.
(Brian)

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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?”