COMMUNICATING THE LIFE AND MISSION OF THE MEN AND WOMEN

OF HOLY CROSS IN THE DISTRICT OF WEST AFRICA

VOLUME 14 – ISSUE 3 July-September2011

SEVENTEEN YOUNG MEN ENTER CANDIDACY PROGRAM

In the annals of Holy Cross we note the arrival of the first postulant for the Brothers

of St. Joseph in Ruille in 1820. At the present time in our Congregation of Holy Cross

191 years later there are 17 young men, who have decided to take the first steps toward

becoming Brothers of Holy Cross in the now well-established District of West Africa.

They arrived in mid-July to begin the candidacy program at St. Joseph Hall, St. John‘s

School, Sekondi, Ghana.

While the program includes candidates beginning at grade 11 in senior high school at

St. John‘s, this present group includes 12 members who have finished with all the basic

educational requirements and, presuming their evaluation in attributes that are

necessary toward becoming future Brothers of Holy Cross indicates their readiness to

enter the pre-novitiate, with 5 others waiting the results of their National exams. Were

any of these to fail in a particular subject they would have the opportunity to re-sit the

exam later in the year in the subject(s) they had failed. Were one not to successfully

pass the exam, generally he would be given leave of the program with permission to re-

enter once he has met the academic requirements.

Only God knows what lies ahead,

but truly we realize that we have

been showered with God‘s blessings

in this unprecedented number of 17

candidates at this moment in the

history of Holy Cross in the District

of West Africa. The District gives

thanks to Bro. Kenneth Goode,

Director of Vocations, who

continues to work so zealously in

vocational recruitment, and Bro.

Nicholas Arthur, Director of the

Candidacy Program, not overlooking the fact that many District members are actively

encouraging the youth with whom they come in contact, reinforcing all with continued

prayers toward this most necessary aspect of maintaining a viable community, hoping

one day to become a Province.

DISTRICT ANNUAL RETREAT PRAISED BY ALL

The District of West Africa held its annual week long retreat together beginning on

the 14th and finishing on the 20th August at the District Center, Brafoyaw. Fr. Tom

Looney, C.S.C., former Provincial of the Eastern Province of Priests and now a

Council member for the new US Province of

Priests and Brothers had agreed to come to

Ghana to be with us. Those of you who

know of Fr. Tom‘s capabilities in his recently

acquired directing of retreats have no doubts

that our hopes for this retreat under his

direction were not found wanting.

The theme for the retreat was A Holy Cross

Vision and Congregational Values Which

Come from our Spiritual Heritage. It was an

excellent retreat thanks to the wonderful

conferences given by Fr. Tom. Each

conference was well permeated with

reflections taken from one or other of Bl.

Basil Moreau‘s written words of wisdom,

left to us in our Holy Cross heritage.

Sometimes this was a sudden truth expressed

concisely in the counsel Moreau gives to us:

―(Pray) Give us this day the strength to earn

our daily bread.‖ And another nugget of his wisdom: ―We need not go into Church to

pray the Way of the Cross, the Stations are all around us.‖ No small portion of the

conferences referred to the Cross as an inevitable part of our lives, O Crux Ave, Spes

Unica. Truly Fr. Tom made our Holy

Founder come alive in us as members in Holy

Cross sharing in the heritage he has given.

The one hour conferences each were given

morning and afternoon, with the Celebration

of the Eucharist at mid-day, Fr. Tom

celebrant, also giving the homilies. There

was a Holy Hour each night, one such time

with a power outage creating a rather

―spiritual atmosphere‖. Tom gave

compressed copies of each conference to us,

which were greatly appreciated, these being facilitated in printing, etc. by Fr. Bob

Gilmour.

The retreat was generally held in silence even at mealtimes with a background of

selected religious CD hymns. One living with the Ghanaians for any length of time

observes the openness and sharing with little vocal constraint, especially among

Morning and Evening liturgical prayer

“…and in“ this matter, Fr. Moreau says…”

Jesus Christ, Bread of eternal life

community members, required no small

discipline for them to maintain this necessary

condition toward the success of the retreat for

its participants. On a scale of 10 the latter

surely would rate 8+, possibly 9!

This was Fr. Tom Looney's first time in

Africa. His taking time during his ―vacation‖

from teaching was so very greatly

appreciated by all. We see the value for

future retreats in trying to obtain someone

that it would be wise, indeed, to first see

whom might be available from within our own Holy Cross Family—priest, brother or

sister. Thanks again Fr. Tom for enriching our lives with this grace-filled respite from

our highly involved ministries.

CELEBRATING THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS

AND A DIAMOND JUBILEE

Transferring the celebration of the feast day of our Congregation‘s Patroness to a

more convenient date of Saturday, September 17th

at 10 AM the District members

gathered with the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Ghana for the Celebration of the

Eucharist in the St. Bro. Andre Chapel at the District Center in Brafuyaw. This was

conjoined with the celebration of the 60th Jubilee of religious profession of vows of

Bro. Tom Dillman. Tom had deferred from celebrating his

jubilee with those of his religious profession group in June in

the US, preferring to do this here to be able to share this

occasion with our Holy Cross Family in Ghana, no special

invitation to others outside our community was deemed

necessary. Nonetheless, the empty seats in the Chapel are

becoming significantly fewer with our increasing numbers in

both the District and Holy

Cross Sisters, for this event

some 50 were present!

The two Readings had been

specially selected by Fr. Bob Gilmour, celebrant,

with Gospel of the Feast. Bro. Paul Asenso, pre-

novice did the first and Bro. Tom the second, with the

congregation singing the special Sequence: Stabat

Mater (in English). In his homily Fr. Bob‘s reflections

pertaining to both our Patroness and the Jubilarian had obvious reference to all in regard

to our commitment to God through our religious vows. While the Liturgy was

essentially that of Our Lady of Sorrows, it was interspersed several times with reference

Mealtimes: Sounds of Silence

“…The Word of theLord.”

“…I thus renew my vows..”

poverty

“..The Word of the Lord..”

to the Jubilee event: renewal of vows, special blessing, and all present came up to front,

each to express their own congratulations to Bro. Tom.

Both choirs, that of the District‘s pre-novices and of

the Sisters‘ Candidates, were reinforced with some of

their young professed Ghanaians, accompanied by

Bro. Nicholas Arthur, who is becoming increasingly

capable as our District organist, and a few others on

drums and rhythm instruments. In brief, the music for

this occasion was superb, indeed!

Opportunity was given at the end of the Mass for any

who wished to relate their own impressions relating to that part of their life more

closely shared with Tom. Taking the time available for an admittedly atypical

presentation, Tom decided to impart a small note of counsel to remember when difficult

times may arise in ones life. He sang that then very popular song of the US‘ first Jazz

singer, Al Jolson, in the cinema‘s

very first musical some 90 or so

years ago, sang ―April

Showers.(bring May flowers)‖ It

seemed to be well-received,

although some of the younger

religious later asked Tom to

explain the lyrics!

The group photo taken outside

the chapel after the Mass is of both

segments of our Holy Cross

Family, inclusive of Candidates,

pre-novices, and professed religious, only, clearly indicates a rapidly growing and

viable Holy Cross community in Ghana. With the Photo taken all convened at the

District House‘ rooftop patio for social and dinner to end the day‘s celebration.

Testimonial: MY 60TH

JUBILEE AS A BROTHER OF HOLY CROSS

At age 22, outward appearances may have suggested my being a

satisfied 3rd

year college student pursuing an Engineering course

along with various social activities. But in reality, I was becoming

increasingly dissatisfied and with no small concern that my life

seemed devoid of substance, giving no real meaning and purpose to

me, clearly lacking the joie de vivre that my peers seemed to

possess. As to how Providence unfolds, suffice to say, I happened to

read and was considerably impressed by Merton‘s Seven Story

“Last but not least, Monica!”

Sharing together in celebration of our Patroness and the Jubilee!

Mountain, albeit not inclined to take refuge in the ―desert‖ as a Trappist monk. But it

did serve as a seed of growing awareness of God‘s call to me with sufficient clarity to

become a Holy Cross Brother. Decision made, a I experienced a graced euphoria and I

envisioned a whole new world opening before me.

What did I expect to find in the Holy Cross community that I had now entered? It

was of God‘s choosing, not our own, clearly in contrast to marriage, as we had been

brought together, coming from many different places and backgrounds with multi-

diversified gifts and interests. But with the grace of God a certain bond as ―brothers in

Christ‖ would develop, some friendships more deeply formed than others, but inclusive

of all to give glory to God in our service to others in our respective future ministries.

With the years unfolding for me and the experience gained through my multi-varied

ministries, there has become a gradually increasing awareness of God‘s love and His

Spirit‘s abiding presence within me, hopefully motivating me to respond in gratitude

with a growing love of Him and generous service to neighbor in my life in Holy Cross .

Clearly, no less than that of Jesus‘ disciples, our family is a ―flawed group‖ of

persons, each of us a part of imperfect humanity, yet having for each other loving

concern, as we continued to strive to become truly brothers in Christ. Well do I realize

the truth in the words of the poet Robert Frost: “It takes a heap of livin’ to make a

house a home!”

Now 60 years later with all things considered, I proclaim ―Yes!‖—to all, both good

times and not so good, yet the latter accepted as the cross for discipleship in Christ,

enabling a wisdom to be gained not possible by any other way. And I now realize, as

well, that Christ‗s ―promise of a hundredfold‖ in leaving all to follow Him has been

fulfilled in actual fact—the spiritual riches gained through the countless grace-filled

opportunities for me in each new day of life working toward my good and hopefully for

the good of others. Holy Cross is truly my home, and the best place I can imagine for

me to be working out my salvation, and to enable the Holy Spirit to bring to fruition the

gifts so generously given to me, while contributing toward building up the kingdom of

God on earth and to grow in my union with Christ and the hope of eternal life in him.

To God be the glory! —Brother Tom Dillman – Editor

CATHSU SPECIAL SUMMER SCHOOL

The Summer School Program sponsored by the Catholic Student Union was held once

again at St. Augustine‘s College for three weeks in August during the regular school

vacation period. Some 450 students coming from respective senior high schools in the

Archdiocese of Cape Coast, the balance somewhat favoring the number of boys,

possibly left no academic or vocational school unrepresented. The facilities of St.

Augustine‘s were quite adequate to accommodate all, which during the regular senior

high school boards some 1400boys, obviously. There seemed to be a quite sufficient

number of staff members,

including seminarians and priest

in the archdiocese who shared

in the liturgical celebrations

each day, all very well

organized..

In addition to a rather intense

academic program permeated

with several activities, including

daily Mass in the large school

auditorium, religious activities

with song and dance along with

Christian instruction. There was

time for sports activities down

on the athletic field, and some days there was early arising for all students, who were

directed through physical

exercises for a half-hour or

more beginning at 5:30 AM!

The day was highly organized,

allowing little time for

mischief making, always a

possibility in a program of this

nature with its diversity of

participants. It should have

been obvious to any one

observing the unfolding events

throughout this three week

session that all seemed to

manifest a disposition of being quite happy with this program.

A few other archdioceses also have begun programs of this nature, aware that it has a

significant value to the formation of youth both in academic and moral development.

GHANA’S ST. ANTHONY GUILD

HOLDS CONGRESS IN CAPE COAST

The St. Anthony Guild held its quad-annual Congress at St. Augustine‘s College in

Cape Coast September 9th to 11

th. The first contingent mostly of organizers for the

occasion had already come a day earlier to finalize plans of accommodating the some

4000 or more members of the Guild in the St. Augustine College‘s facilities that

normally housed some 1400 boarding students! On early Friday morning buses had

Morning exercises included dancing!

begun arriving unloading predominately older men and women, but sufficient younger

members, as well, some of them with their children. An endless stream of buses it

almost seemed continued throughout the day till evening time with delegates here for

official business concerns and members from most every, if not all, city, town and

village,

The large athletic field was filled with canopies to provide shelter for the vast crowd

from sun or rain, weather providing both one

time or other, a large one of these being used

for the Celebration of the Eucharist and

conducting religious activities, also speakers‘

podium.

Classrooms as well as dormitories had to

be used to provide temporary dwelling, and

somehow all found a means of providing for

their own meals and facilities for answering

nature‘s call—some kind of miracle here, it

would seem, was involved in resolving all these problems, but St. Anthony of Padua is

renowned as a ―miracle worker‖ in the church‘s annals. So--

On Saturday afternoon most all participated in the parade through town with larger

contingents carrying their own parish banner. Only a few seemed to remain behind to

secure the large number of tables, etc.

containing religious artifacts. Clearly

it would not be a trouble free march,

even reduced to four abreast for the

4000 persons, including a brass band

with drums from one parish, in

parading through narrow streets. No

doubt many drivers stalled in traffic

lacked full appreciation for the Guild‘s

performance, yet this effect is caused

numbers of times by parades of

political parties, students from schools, one organization or other, albeit not in numbers

anywhere approaching that for the Guild‘s Congress!

The Guild is a religious organization whose members follow a Franciscan rule that

has been modified to meet the needs for laypersons in the Church. The religious

affiliation with the Franciscan order is considered of sufficient degree that its members

are privileged to wear the Franciscan religious habit for their burial garment. There are

some 10,000 Guild members here in Ghana alone.

Morning Exercise included dancing

UPDATE: SISTERS OF THE HOLY CROSS – GHANA

These have been very special months for the Sisters in Ghana. Two volunteers from

St. Mary‘s College, Laureen Theis and Becky Eckstein, returned to the US after

completing their one year of service at Our Lady of Holy Cross School in Kasoa, as two

new volunteers from the college, Jamie Brown and Lizzy Monroy, have come to

begin their one year of service in similar fashion.

There were several wonderfully graced occasions for the Congregation. Sister

Veronica Fajardo, who was with the Sisters in Kasoa for 15 months, professed her

Perpetual Vows in July at St. Mary‘s, as did Sisters Jacinta Katusabe and Lillian

Nyakaisidi from Uganda. And Sister Mary Elizabeth Bednarek (Kasoa) celebrated

her Golden Jubilee at St. Mary‘s.

In September the Area Leadership Team, including Sisters Angelica, Lillian S.,

Helene and Margaret Mary met at the District Center in Brafuyaw for council

meetings. The council members appreciated the hospitality thus given by the Brothers,

reinforced in the awareness of Fr. Moreau‘s vision of the family charism of Holy Cross.

We congratulate Sr. Scholastica Ampadu, who graduated from the University of

Cape Coast with a Bachelor of Education degree on September 23. Ayeekoo!

Two CSC Sisters from Uganda, Jascinta Katusabe and Lillian Awino have joined

the Sisters‘ community in Ghana. We welcome them and look forward to sharing with

them in our community and ministries over the months ahead.

NEWS BITS

Bro. Joe Tsiquaye traveled to Holy Cross Novitiate in Virika, Uganda, District of

East Africa to conduct the retreat in early July for the novices in preparation for their

first profession of religious vows in Holy Cross.

In the last week of July, the Holy Cross District Center hosted the Order of Friars

Minor Conventuals (OFM Conv) for their Chapter. Our large 3-storey Holy Cross

Continuing Formation Center seems to be attracting different religious communities

and organizations for their particular needs. Some several dozen delegates were here

for their Chapter. Truly, since the building has undergone extensive renovation with

each room now having self-contained facilities it is one of the more attractive places

for meetings of whatever duration. As this is a source of income to our District we

are quite happy to accommodate deserving groups.

Bro. Ray Papenfuss made a special visit to Ghana for the express purpose of fund

raising for the new school. He spoke to the leaders of the Knights of Marshall and

the Knights of St Johns. He spoke also to a number of key "old boys" in Ghana

whom our Brothers had taught. Leaving Ghana on the 12th, he then stopped in

London for a day to meet with a group of old boys also to solicit funds. He returned

to the US on Aug. 12th.

Bro. William Tawiah completed his year at the Holy Cross Novitiate in Virika,

Uganda, District of East Africa in July. He has since returned here and is a member of

the Holy Cross community in Butumayegbo.

Bro. Vincent Ntsiful has been appointed by the Superior General as the District‘s

representative in the Holy Cross Forum of 16 representing provinces and Districts in

our international Holy Cross community. The Forum will serve to facilitate

discussions and resolutions of matters of concern in the Congregation.

--------------------------------

Editor: Bro. Tom Dillman,CSC

Email: tom.dillman@yahoo.com

News and photo assist: Fr. Bob Gilmour, CSC

Critique/suggestions: Bro. Nee Wayoe,CSC