A SYNOPSIS OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF DAY FOUR (WEDNESDAY, 24​FEBR. 2016).

OF THE PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE 2016 ­ GHANA PROVINCE.

This session started as usual at 8.30am. After a prayerful reflection on Article 51 of our Constitutions and some preliminaries, we set down to the business of the day.

The committee that had been appointed the previous day to review the Financial Report of the Provincial Council presented their findings to the house and clarifying questions were asked. The Provincial Council then responded to the issues brought forward by the committee. On the whole, the house found it a good report and commended the Provincial Council for the good job down so far in managing our finances.

The Directors of four of our projects were asked to present to the house the state and future succession plans. These projects were: Producer Enterprises Promotions Service Centre (PEPS­C), Catholic Action for Street children (CAS), the Orthopedic Services Centre and the FIC Bernardus Building Firm. The Conference was quite enlightened on the joys and concerns of these projects and went ahead to further discuss each one of them in depth in the hope of finding ways and means of sustaining them. One of the biggest questions that came up was: ‘why are brothers unwilling to take over the leadership of some of these projects even though their present leaders have passed the retiring age?’ This is quite a worrying situation.

Other topics that occupied us in the course of the day included the topics that were sieved from the Provincial Council’s report and brought back to the house for further discussion. Namely, the declining participation of brothers in communal gatherings, the non­submission of salaries by some brothers, the declining participation of brothers in annual retreats and the re­examination of the roles of community liaisons. The rest were: the declining participation of brothers in Diocesan events/gatherings, apprehensiveness of some temporary professed brothers towards accompaniment and spiritual direction, and communication issues in the province. In all, very useful observations and suggestions were given to the Provincial Council in this respect and they were mandated to further reflect on them and find appropriate solutions to these concerns.

The final event that closed the proceedings of the day was the election of a replacement for Bro. Clement Nangpiire to the Provincial Council. The name of the elected candidate was then sent to the General Council in Maastricht for their approbation. With this the curtains were drawn for the day.

Bro. Godfrey NT.