During the months of October, November and December, the Superior General has been ‘on the road’ almost continuously.

A two week canonical visit of the Irish Province in October was conducted in the company of Fr Rozario, General Councillor.

This short article briefly describes a visit to the Region of Togo from November 2nd to 15th, a short trip to Abidjan to attend a meeting of the administration of ICMA and a nine day visit to Sierra Leone from December 5th to 14th.

 

1- TOGO

It was my first occasion to visit the country of Togo. Having heard much about it over the years and being accompanied these years at Nocetta by Didier Lawson, Paul-Marie Amegashie and Alexis Basoma, all natives of Togo, it was a visit I looked forward to very much. I was not to be disappointed. I found everywhere I went that our men are doing wonderful missionary work; the spirit of Bresillac is alive and well in all our missionaries.

The visit allowed me to meet with the bishops of the dioceses where our men are working, Archbishop Denis Amuzu-Dzakpah of Lome, Bishop Jacques Danka Longa of Kara and bishop Amboise Djoliba of Sokode. I also had the pleasure of meeting all but one of the SMAs currently working in Togo, including three lay associates. During the two weeks I had meetings with both the Gulf of Guinea District-information and Regional Councils.

I visited the parishes of Avepozo and Adamavo in Lome city. Gustave Kutubetey and Jean de Dieu Ahorloo work in Avepozo parish. This was carved out from Adamovo some time ago. It is a parish in construction both community wise and construction wise. The team lives presently in a rented house and the plan is to build a presbytery in the near future. Adamavo parish is run by Nelson Bediako, Godfrey Naika and Alcide Dick and Wilfried Tagba, who awaits his visa for South Africa, live at the SMA centre in the compound of the formation house at Agodeke while the others live in a rented house close to the main church of the parish. In both parishes ministry is somewhat hampered by the lack of good and suitable accommodation.

I had the pleasure of visiting Noepe to view the tomb of Bishop Joseph Strebler and visit with the Soeurs de Notre-Dame de l’Eglise.

Severin Kinga, Regional Superior, and Gustave, vice-Regional, were my guides and pleasant companions on the journey north to Kara. We had a night with Lukasz Kobielus at Awanjelo and saw the beautiful octagonal church he is constructing there, dedicated to Saint John Paul II. This should be completed and dedicated within a year. From Awanjelo we visited Soude mission and saw the many shrines, churches and retreat centers built by Alphonse Kuntz in the hills surrounding Soude. This was very impressive indeed. Here I met also Donald Zagore who is studying the local language and deacon Noel Battona who is doing his pastoral placement.

The visit to Kara also afforded me the opportunity to meet David Roberts and Gray Plunkett, two lay associates of the FLM group; both do excellent work in translation of the bible into the local languages. At Sokode I met with Tomaszewska Malgorzata, a very committed lay associate of the Polish DF.

I visited Village Renaissance de Yao-Cope and met with Bernard Bardouillet. This is a project for the rehabilitation of ex-prisoners established by the late Fr Charles Cuenin. One of the highlights of the whole trip was a visit to Fr Perrin at Sanctuaire Notre Dame de la Merci at Sotouboua. At 90 years of age, Fr Perrin is a man of remarkable energy and sense of mission. A frail body and weakening sense of hearing does not deter him from pursuing numerable projects. His latest project is to construct a university at Sotouboua, and he says he will not leave Togo until he sees the university inaugurated.

At Tchebebe I met with Marian Szatkowski and stagiaire Tchikos from Zambia. Jan Kupis had not yet returned to Togo from holiday. We travelled to Affosolakope for Sunday Masses with Valere Mupidi and stagaire Pascal from Ghana.

It was comforting and reassuring to see the missionary zeal exemplified by all our men.

At the Regional house back in Lome I met with the Amicale. We had a good discussion as to how they can support SMA especially in the area of formation. Time spent at the Regional house also allowed me to visit with Michel Savadogo, who was completing his Masters programme and preparing to go to Kenya for some studies with SHALOM in the hopes of setting up a JPIC office for the DF on his return.

I spent three days at the formation house at Agodeke. Here too I saw the impressive tomb of the late Fr Gerard Bretillot. Jan Kupis and Silvano Galli, both just returned from holiday, came to visit with me at the formation house. I met with three members of staff, Samuel Agbeme, Andre Chauvin and Marcin Reczko. Lofias Yeboua was not present due to a prior engagement for medical attention. Each of the staff members are in good form and doing excellent work to prepare our young candidates to be future missionaries in the spirit of Bresillac. I met individually with 36 of the 38 students – two being missing due to family bereavements – and found them on the whole to be quality young men striving to discern and live out a missionary vocation.

My meeting with the Gulf of Guinea DF Council, Fabien Sognon, Narcisse Seka Ogou and secretary Dennis Etti, allowed me to view at close hand the great work undertaken by the DF. Planning for the future was a key component of this meeting. Beginning is made on the renovation of the DF headquarters as agreed at the Plenary Council. From what I have seen so far I believe this will be a very solid building and should serve the DF well into the future.

Of course the visit was not all work and no play. We had plenty opportunities to celebrate life and visits to three different OLA communities added to the enjoyment and fruitfulness of the visit.

My sincere thanks to all who made my visit so enjoyable and interesting. Special thanks to both the DF and Regional Councils who left no stone unturned to make it a productive visit.

 

2- ICMA – ABIDJAN – Institut Catholique Missionnaire d’Abidjan

As President of the CIF [Comite des Instituts fondateurs] in Rome for the coming two years, I attended the November meeting of CA [Comite d’Administration] at ICMA. The change in name from CFMA to ICMA now seems to be well grounded and accepted by all. It was a very full meeting over two days and it is clear that great work is being done at ICMA and many challenges remain. Our four confreres presently involved at ICMA – Paul Ennin, Rector, Patrice Dossoumou, Bursar, Simon Onoja, Missiology and Jean-Louis Theron, BIRDS – are to be commended for their excellent work, as indeed is Remi Fatcheoun for the excellent work he has done as Dean of Studies.

My short visit to Abidjan allowed me also to visit the Regional house. Here Dario Dozio and Bernad Ramon are busy with many chores; they have already launched the building of an all-purpose hall, agreed by the Pleanry Council.

 

3- SIERRA LEONE

My visit to Sierra Leone was another that I looked forward to very much. I found all three confreres at Kwama mission in great form. Patrikson Francis, David Agbevanoo and Valery Aguh are all heavily involved in establishing a very positive image of SMA in Sierra Leone.

Kwama mission is an outstation of Waterloo parish. All three fathers give considerable help to the parish visiting stations at weekends. We hope to have an agreement signed with the bishop shortly to separate Kwama and Newton missions from the main parish and make them more autonomous with quasi parish designation. We should shortly also have a written agreement with the bishop regarding the Shrine to Our Lady that SMA is committed to building in honour of Bresillac. Unfortunately the land originally designated for this project is no longer available. However, with the bishop’s collaboration, two further portions of land have been identified and the hope is that a beginning can be made on the Shrine project early in 2016. What is clear and most encouraging is that Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles is fully supportive of the project and is keen that it be run as a collaborative project between SMA and the diocese. A written agreement will be signed to this effect.

I would like to share just a few impressions from my visit:

• The excellent rapport and working relationship among our own SMA team
• The good and warm relationship between our men and diocesan clergy
• The difficulty of moving church members out of a mentality of ‘give me’, established by earlier missionaries, to one of taking ownership for their own church
• The relatively poor state of the Catholic Church generally in Sierra Leone
• The difficulty of establishing trust even with those who appear on the surface to be the pillars of the church
• The beautiful, spacious but simple house that Patrikson has constructed on the foundation already set down by a Xaverian missionary; and that he has been able to achieve this with the relatively modest sum forwarded from the Construction Fund, at a time when our team were being dispossessed of its rented accommodation, is most admirable.

However, far and away the most impressive thing is the extraordinary nature of the response our men gave during the Ebola crisis. They literally put their lives at risk ministering to the most abandoned. I have no doubt Bresillac himself protected them. The bishop told me he was genuinely worried at times for their safety. He then went on to say “they showed a level of courage that I could never hope to match and they have brought honour and pride to the Catholic Church here in Sierra Leone”. Many others spoke in a similar vein. Indeed they have truly done well. Thank you Patrikson, David and Valery. You have brought pride to the name of SMA. I am proud to be your brother SMA.

Fachtna O’Driscoll SMA
December 2015