REPORT ON DAY ONE OF THE THIRD SESSION OF THE GHANA PROVINCIAL CHAPTER

Dear Brothers

Greeting from St. Louis Community where we are currently holding the last session of the Provincial Chapter. We have all recovered from the heavy week of having to mourn and bury our Br. Isidore Aabeisie who was a delegate of the chapter. He has been replaced by Br, Aloysius Porekuu, May his soul rest in peace.

We began our day with a prayer service to spiritually prepare ourselves for the day ahead of us. Therefore, this report is to give a summary of what transpired for the day. 

The Provincial Superior welcomed delegates after the opening prayer and handed over the direction of the discussions to the Facilitator, Fr. Dominic Apee. M.Afr. The following were the issues tabled for discussion:

v Issues from the second session of the Chapter. The house was asked if there were anything that was left out or omitted during the second session that needed to be discussed. There were no major issues identified for further discussion and therefore we moved on to examine the next item.

v Presentation of the audited financial report by the PC. A member of the PC took the house through a brief report of the audited financial report after which some clarifications and observations were made. This presentation then paved the way for the auditors to come later to give the house a comprehensive report of the audited accounts. After this presentation, a three-man verification committee was formed to verify the accounts and to recommend or otherwise to the Chapter to relieve the Provincial Council of the financial commitment of their period in office. The house also after this composed a committee to draft the Chapter message which will be discussed approved and later circulate to all brothers.

v Presentation of the Audited Financial Report by Diligence Consult. This is the firm that has been auditing the finances of the Province. The lead Consultant let the house systematically through the financial report in such a way that not many questions or clarifications were asked after the presetation. A member thanked them for the good work done after which we continued with the rest of the discussion.

v Minutes of the second session of the Chapter. The house went through the minutes and finding no correction of content, was approved as what was discussed in the second session. Simple typos were referred to the secretaries. The house thanked the secretaries for the wonderful work done.

v As a tradition, after the General Chapter, the delegates are mandated to make a summary report for the Provincial Chapter. Two participants of the General Chapter gave a summary of what transpired in Wa. The report highlighted the General Chapter message which was circulated to all brothers and also stressed on the Spirit of Synodality which we are all invited to. The report captured as well the fruits of the chapter that is, the election of the new General Council, concluding with pictures of joy and our celebration. The house was thankful to delegates who made the presentation.

v This then led us to the afternoon session of our discussion where we were to consider new proposals if any. There were no new proposals to be discussed or added but the house was still open to adding any if the need arises. We then tackled the last item on the agenda for the day to discuss and to fine tune the draft proposals that were made in the second session, to straw vote on them and prepare it for the final voting into resolutions. The house could only deal with 10 proposals but run out of time. We brought the day to a close, moved into the chapel to have the Eucharistic celebration.

On the whole, it was a busy day and a time well spent. We look forward to the rest of the days with similar success and enthusiasm.

Henry Surnye, FIC