Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: Africa Day

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Africa Day - Peace and Security in Africa

Africa Day is an annual commemoration of the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on May 25, 1963. On that day 32 independent African states signed the founding charter in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In 2002, the OAU became the African Union. Africa Day is celebrated around the world.

Africa Day 2010 will focus on “Peace and Security in Africa”. For us here in the Novitiate we will seek to mark this day in an appropriate way through prayer and celebration.

"Africa is a paradox. It is one of the richest continents on the planet ... yet most Africans remain poor. The disempowerment of ordinary people underlies Africa's gravest problems.
In all of their incredible diversity, Africans share common bonds that tie them together and that they must cherish in their communities, nations, regions, and across the continent. It is fundamental that Africa's leaders create the conditions under which their peoples gain confidence, dignity, and a sense of self worth - with the citizens themselves actively participating in this effort.
The struggle to preserve what they have and hold it close to them is one that all Africans should engage in. When we have nothing to call our own, we have nothing to to reflect back to us who we truly are... (and) we are vulnerable to anyone who wishes to exploit us.
Africans must make a deliberate choice to move forward together toward more cohesive macro-nations, where all can feel free, secure, and at peace with themselves and others, where there is no need for any groups to organise violence against their neighbour. Then everyone would begin to reap the benefits of unity in diversity." - Wangari Maathai.

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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?”