Tamale Community.

 

Our FIC presence in the city of Tamale has a long history. Tamale was the first place outside Wa Diocese where FIC decided to settle. This was in 1980/81 upon the request of the then Archbishop of Tamale, the late Cardinal Peter Porekuu Dery. Initially we took over the minor seminary, St. Charles, where most of the Brothers posted to this community were teaching. The community lived in an adapted bungalow of the school and some Brothers there were teaching in the local JHS, St. Joseph’s, while some were also pursuing further studies at the Tamale polytechnic. 

Throughout our stay in Tamale at St. Charles Junior Seminary, Brothers have asked themselves if this apostolate was in line with our charisma and mission as FIC. Therefore it was in the late nineties that other apostolic involvements were found and Brothers started looking for another place, which we found in a completely different part of town. The late Bro. Justin felt very strongly in this direction. This led to the establishment of the St. Vincent de Paul community and ultimately it was decided to situate our provincial formation there. Initially only the postulancy was situated there, but when the integration of our formation programmes with Ma- lawi became a fact, the novitiate was also moved from Wa, St. Louis, to Vincent de Paul community in Tamale. 

St. Vincent de Paul House, Tamale 

Historical Background 

Bro. Alpitio writes: ‘The Vincent de Paul house of the Brothers FIC in Tamale was officially blessed on the 6th of February 2005 by the then Archbishop, Most Rev. Gregory E. Kpiebaya. It must be put on record that the Brothers FIC have been present in the Archdiocese of Tamale as far back as 1980. They were engaged in the teaching ministry at St. Charles Minor Seminary and St. Joseph’s Basic Schools. The original reason for the presence of FIC in the Archdiocese was to undertake the headship of St. Charles. 

The idea to establish the St. Vincent de Paul House came about when it became clear to the Leadership of FIC Ghana Province that they could no longer provide the required personnel to head St. Charles Minor Seminary. In addition to this there was a strong desire to establish our own apostolate. The initial idea was to start a basic school in the Tamale Metropolitan area located somewhere close to the Tamale Polytechnic so that the house could also serve as a residence for Brothers who might be students at the Polytechnic. This was discussed with the Archbishop and accepted. 

A new Formation House Project 

In 2000 there was a change of leadership in the FIC Ghana province. With this change the idea to establish a basic school metamorphosed dramatically. In place of a school the Brothers decided to use the house as a place of formation for our candidates in initial formation and plans were made to build the house accordingly. The building started in 2003 on a site near the Tamale Polytechnic in a residential area called Gbolo-Kpalse. It is demarcated by a fence wall. 

The first Brothers to start the community were Bro. Justin and Bro Bosko T. Both of them were of Indonesian origin. Bro. Jus- tin taught Mathematics in St. Charles Minor Seminary while Bro. Bosko was assigned to the formation of candidates. 

In September 2005, the first group of four pre-novices was admit- ted to begin their pre-novitiate year of formation in the new St. Vincent de Paul Formation House. They were: Emmanuel from Malawi, and three Ghanaians (Sebastian, Robert, Martin). Of this group only Emmauel is still an FIC Brother in Malawi. Sebastian went to the seminary for priestly formation, while Robert and Martin left the religious altogether. 

Bro. Alpitio joined the St. Vincent de Paul House Community in April 2005 to help out in the formation of the pre-novices and at the same time teach some classes at Northern School of Busi- ness (NOBISCO), a Senior High School in Tamale. On 6th March 2006 Bro. Bosko died in a tragic accident when he was hit by a truck while riding a motorbike on his way back home from town. At that time Bro. Bosko was the Formation Director of Joseph B. (a Malawian) the only candidate in the pre-novitiate at that time. Bro. Alpitio continued with Joe to complete his pre-novitiate formation after the death of Bro. Bosko. 

On 15th October 2005, Bro. Alpitio received five young men in the pre-novitiate in the persons of Gerald, Irenius, Aaron, Francis and John Bosco as full-time director. Of the five, Gerald terminated his formation and the four others are professed Brothers now. 

In October 2007 three young men were admitted to St. Vincent de Paul House as ‘residential aspirants’. They stayed for a few months as they were being prepared to go to Malawi where they would begin the pre-novitiate formation together with their Malawian counterparts. Bro. Felicio was appointed director of the three candidates Wilfred, Fidelis and Nemorious. After staying in Malawi for one and half years these candidates returned to Ghana to continue the formation in the canonical novitiate with Bro. Felicio as the Novice Director. 

In 2010 however it became necessary to transfer the formation of the canonical novitiate from Wa, St. Louis Formation Centre to St. Vincent de Paul House, Tamale after due consultations and permission from the General Council FIC. 

From 2005 to 2008 Bro. Justin functioned as the first and pioneer superior of the Vincent de Paul Formation House. In January 2009, he was overtaken by a short illness and died at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, shortly after he arrived there. 

At the moment (March 2013), the Vincent de Paul Formation House community comprises the following Brothers : Bro. Denis (acting Superior), Bro. Methodius (now in South Sudan as part of the USG/UISG project), Bro. Alpitio (Novice Director), Alexander, novice, Linus, novice. All the Brothers are actively involved in formation work. 

Apart from the usual formation studies, the novices have the opportunity to interact with many people besides the community members. Among them priests and religious of the diocese who offer classes and spiritual direction. There is the opportunity of interacting with priests, religious and fellow formatees in and around the parish, where the following congregations have settled: SMI Sisters, FMM Sisters and their pre-novices, SOLT Sisters, Christian Brothers and their novices, Missionary of Africa (Priests and Brothers ) and the priests of the parish. Once in a while the novices have the opportunity of interacting with the seminarians at St. Victors and St. Augustine’s as well as the seminarians of SVD. The novices do their apostolate in the parish (catechism and assisting altar servers). Through that they interact with the priests and the parishioners. There is a cluster of educational institutions around the parish which is also an advantage for the novices. 

The community is alive and active at the moment and members feel at home with each other. It is the feeling of the novices that the community life here is a positive sign for them to grow into maturity to facilitate the process of answering their call in the future. 

Religious formation in the Ghana Province 

Bro. Raphael writes: ‘Religious formation has always played a very important role in the Ghana Province. After all we came to Ghana in 1965 to train young religious (Brothers of St. Joseph) to become FIC Brothers. Even though after the first two novitiates (1965 and 1967) the formation was suspended for some time, it has always played a very important part in the life of the Province. This we felt was our first assignment: promoting indigenous religious life. Therefore we started with the prep school in Kaleo in 1974 (which moved to Wa in 1976). We recruited a number of young boys who received a one-year intensive residential course to prepare them for the common entrance, so that they could enter into Secondary school. During that year they received religious education and had the opportunity to get to know the Brothers better, which was the main purpose. At the same time when recruiting the boys for the school, the Brother in charge was forced to explain what the ‘Brother vocation’ consists of. 

While this prep school was going on, the novitiate re-opened in 1975 in Kaleo and was later on moved to Wa, St. Louis. Since that time there have been regular entries into our formation programmes, so that almost every year there have been professions. Every six years (chapters) the formation programmes were evaluated and at times conditions of entry changed, demanding a certain level of education of candidates as well as a certain life experience, so that candidates knew what they are going in for. During the Regional Chapter of 1982 the second year of novitiate was introduced. This was meant to be a year of practical experience where the novices were exposed to a variety of apostolic situations in order for them to get a good idea of what the FIC charisma really is. Presently the second year novitiate is spent in PSI (Pastoral and Social Institute) where novices get further religious and theological training’. 

Quite a number of Brothers have been involved in the religious formation programmes either as Postulant master or Novice mas- ter. Below, Bro Raphael tells about his experiences as FIC formation master. 

My experience of FIC formation 

‘I have been involved in two different kinds of apostolate since I became a Brother in 1992. I started as a teacher and later became a formator (Director of Novices), while for the last two years I was the Aspirancy Coordinator. My experience as a novice director has been a dual blessing. As novice director, I saw myself in a privileged position because it allowed me to enter into the sacred lives of others, and this I experienced as personal formation. In addition, the novitiate setting provided a special setting for the experience of genuine community life. The other main advantage of working as a novice director was the fulfilment I experienced in the task. I realized each moment that the ability to live out my commitment in a more fulfilling way is through the grace of God. It was a joy to see candidates passing through me and becoming Brothers. 

However, there are also challenges. The present Ghanaian school curriculum is not religious or moral-friendly. There is very little or sometimes no room for the teaching of religion or moral education. Therefore promoting the values of FIC becomes an arduous task. 

Many FIC Brothers or candidates sometimes have to break service with the Ghana Education Service in order to do formation or perform a provincial task. This is unavoidable. But it is usual that after such a service, getting back one’s salary becomes a big problem. This leads to a situation where many Brothers lose their pay or are forced to break service with the Ghana Education Service. As Aspirancy Coordinator, the challenge for me was how to get young men into our initial formation program. The educational curriculum in Ghana for the past decade has been the problem. Freshly trained young teachers have to do mandatory national service for three years, but this period is long enough for aspirants to change their mind due to other distractions in life. So recruitment of teachers has become problematic and cumbersome’.