The midpoint weekend of Plenary Councils usually gives the PC participants a small break and an opportunity to visit and learn something more about the host-country. This year’s outing took place yesterday, Sunday June 5, Day 7 of the PC, and was to Elmina, the town where SMA, represented by Fr. Eugene Murat and Fr. Auguste Moreau, first established its mission in the Gold Coast on May 18, 1880.

The first stop for the PC participants was at the old Dutch Cemetery in Elmina town, where Fr. Murat is buried. This was followed by a visit to St. Joseph’s Minor Basilica where the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Coast, Matthias Kobena Nketsiah, was celebrating mass in honour of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (St. Joseph’s second patron saint). He invited the PC participants to come be introduced to the congregation since SMA has been such an important part of their history. Next was a visit to the Elmina Castle, built by the Portuguese in 1482, initially for the gold trade, and later also for the slave trade. It was an emotional morning – from seeing SMA’s roots in Ghana, to witnessing and hearing about the atrocities man has inflicted upon man over the centuries, and reflecting upon how these atrocities continue to the present time under the names of genocides, wars and human trafficking. Following a guided tour of the Castle, the delegates were joined by the Cape Coast OLA sisters for lunch at Coconut Grove Beach Resort, just outside of Elmina. On the way back to Accra there was a stop at the OLA house outside of Cape Coast for some tea, coffee and snacks, and then a final stop at the new West Hills Mall, rumoured to be the largest shopping mall in West Africa, located just outside of Accra.