Report General Chapter 2024, August 20 ( By: Br. Kuu-Ireme S. Godwin)

Activities for the day started in the chapel as usual with a prayer service at 7:30am. It was under the theme: The spirit of synodality. The prayer service was led by the Ghana delegation. This morning prayer theme sought to deepen the spirit and message behind the overall theme for the chapter.

A heavy down pour of rain at dawn made the weather condition very cool and refreshing with some bit of sunshine. We went for breakfast at the usual time (8:00am) and proceeded to the chapter hall at 9:00am to start deliberations for the day. The first session of the day which lasted from 9:00am to 10:30am was dedicated to discussing the following: Leadership workshop and vocation promotion. These were topics teased out of the previous discussions. Members delved deep into discussing them and drawing conclusions on them. 

The second session of the day’s discussions was used in discussing the topic: New Mission. This topic which needed special attention was teased out of the previous discussions on our internationality as a congregation. When the discussion on new mission was over, members went for lunch break and reconvened in the afternoon session. It must be mentioned here for emphasis and in gratitude to the kitchen staff that the meals for the previous days including today have always been delicious and satisfying.

The first session of the afternoon which commenced at 5:00pm  was devoted to conducting election (provisional ballot). This exercise was conducted by two tellers of the chapter in a solemn and silent mood. With the assistance of the Chapter moderator and the President of the Chapter, the results were collated and displayed on a flip chart for members to observe without any comment. The President of Chapter together with the tellers went out to burn the used ballot papers.

The second session of the afternoon session was used in examining one of the papers submitted by the associate members from the Religious House Netherlands. it was in title Discussion Paper. Members examined it, made some inputs on the message the paper intend to convey to the chapter. The house eventually voted unanimously that the relevant portions of the paper were already added to other parts of some of the proposals and discussed already and so did not need further processing. 

At 6:00pm, the moderator closed the session for the day and delegates moved to the chapel for the Mass service to end the day’s activities. Today happen to be the feast day of St. Bernard which coincides with Rev. Fr. Bernardus -SVD, the interpreter for the chapter from Bahasa Indonesia to English language and vice versa. The main celebrant, Rev. Fr. Dominic Apee M.Afr. prayed specially for Rev. Fr. Bernardus on the occasion of his feast day.

After super members retired to their various rooms to have their personal time. The day’s activities were brought to a close at the recreation hall at 9:00pm where members celebrated the evening with one another chatting, others played games. The day was successful.