Initial Contacts of the Diocese of Wa and FIC Brothers.

(taken from “The History of The FIC Presence in Ghana 1965 to Date”, second edition, February 2009)

By 1960, it was clear to all concerned, that the Brothers of St. Joseph, founded in 1948 by Bishop Bertrand (M. Afr.,) as a diocesan Congregation on men religious, faced some uncertain future.

There was no Napoleonic revolution to stir up anticlericalism in the hearts of the young men of the diocese. Vatican I with its sometimes derailing impact on religious congregations was still on the drawing board and so its effects had not as yet been felt by the young diocese. Yet unaccountably, the young congregation was about to breathe its last breath.

Several causes could be identified but one fact that stirred everyone in the face was that the congregation lacked any clearly defined charism and vision. This could be seen in the informal nature of the education and training of the brothers and the ad hoc approach to the apostolate. It was only too timely for this congregation, in its death throes that a man of rare charism and vision was made the first Bishop of the newly created diocese of Wa, the cradle of the Congregation of the Brothers of St. Joseph.

On being appointed Bishop of Wa in 1960, Bishop Dery addressed seriously to the question of the Brothers of St. Joseph. The situation whereby, the sphere of self development of these young men was circumscribe in the rudiments of carpentry, masonry and mechanics, was dissatisfying to him. Equally dissatisfying was the absence of training, such as will equip these brothers with a deeper insight into their faith and the religious life, as well as make them competent and confident academically and professionally.

Bishop Dery therefore envisaged a situation whereby religious would be trained by fellow religious, for in his own words, “a man can prepare a dish of TZ’ of a sort, but when a woman prepares the same dish, everything that the man has done, pates into insignificance in comparison”.

The ceremonies of his ordination to the episcopate were scarcely over in Rome when Bishop Dery made his plans on the Brothers of St. Joseph known to the then Superior General of the White Fathers. The then Superior General of the White Fathers, Father Leo Volker, fully agreed to the plan to have religious brothers who would either accept to “give formation to our brothers as brothers of St. Joseph or be ready to integrate into their community, those members of the congregation of St. Joseph, who wanted to join them”. Encouraged by the wholehearted support of the Superior General of the White Fathers, Bishop Dery returned home and unveiled his plan before the Diocesan consulters, who also gave him their unqualified support.

The next problem was which religious congregation of men to invite. Letters were therefore written to several religious congregations of Brothers: the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in the US, the Salesian Brothers, the Brothers of Christian Instruction (Rome), the Vincentians Brothers and the Holy Cross Brothers (Rome). “These gave me a lot of hope, but they simply let me down unceremoniously, when Brother Theophane, my great friend and strong supporter, died.”

Undaunted, by these initial set backs Bishop Dery continued his search for a Congregation of religious brothers, who would help him realize his aim. His luck struck, when, in 1963, Father Jan van Rest, (M. Afr.) was appointed as Foramtion Director of the Brothers of St. Joseph.

Jan van Rest, who wanted to get out of the difficult job of forming brothers welcomed the idea of finding a Congregation of religious brothers and said, “you really want a job well done, in the formation of brothers, I know a tremendous and highly qualified Congregation of religious brothers in Hollands. They could do an excellent job of forming these brothers.”

In September, 1964, while Bishop Dery was on his way to Rome to attend the fourth session of Vatican Council II, he asked Fr. Van Rest to write to Brother Avellinus Janssens the then Superior General of the FIC Brothers and to “explain to him, the full purpose of my invitation.” The reply of Brother Avellinus, was heartening, His reply was:” I have received your invitation, communicated to me through Father Van Rest. I shall be going to London to visit our brothers at Christmas time. From there, I will proceed to Sierra Leone, to visit some of our brothers and if it is acceptable to you, I will visit you in January”.

The Arrival of Brother Avellinus

In January 1965, Brother Avellinus the then Superior General of the Brothers of the Immaculate Conception, arrived in Wa from Sierra Leone, accompanied by Brothers Stefano and Oventius. The last named would later become the first master of Novices in Ghana. Bishop Dery then had audience with his visitors and revealed to them his plans concerning the brothers of St. Joseph. Brother Avellinus was given the option of either training the brothers of St. Joseph to be fully formed religious brothers, capable of standing on their own or absorbing them into the FIC Congregation. After their discussions with the Bishop, the visitors were exposed to the brothers of St. Joseph for a couple of days to acquaint themselves with life among the Ghanaian brothers. They also paid short visits to some of the communities of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate (S.M.I), and Fransiscan Missionaries of Mary (F.M.M.) Congregations.

Before their departure back to Holland, Brother Avellinus gave a guarded briefing concerning their experiences in Ghana. He said: “we have seen and learned quite interesting things about the brothers of St. Joseph and your diocese. We can’t, however, at this stage, give you an affirmative or a negative answer. We have to go home to meet with the whole General Council and then we shall give you our decision.”

By April, 1965, the decision to start the FIC Congregation in the Diocese of Wa was approved by the General Chapter of the FIC and the news was communicated to Bishop Dery. The two pioneers to Ghana, Brothers Oventius van Dooren and Maarten Bouw were accordingly chosen. Oventius was to be novice master and Maarten was to be postulants master and later, local superior.

There was great optimism in everyone’s heart at this stage. Bishop Dery was “most grateful to God for having finally fulfilled my deepest aspirations”. All that everyone looked forward to-now was the arrival and start of the pioneers.