REPORT ON THE 20^TH DAY OF THE GENERAL CHAPTER PROCEEDINGS.

We began the day with an inspiring  prayer service let by the General Council, to mark the 60^th birthday of Br. Raphael Besigrinee. A day of thanksgiving and joy for him for the manifold blessings from the Lord for these sixty years and also for humbly accepting to renew his mandate as a General Councilor for the next six years. We prayed for God’s continue blessings for him, good health and the courage to carry out his task.

In the same prayer service, we had the unpleasant news of the passing on to eternity of Br. Isidore Aabeisie Nelson who has been on admission in one of the hospitals in Accra.  In all, it was a service of joy and mixed feelings but we offered  all to God. He knows best. May the soul of Br. Isidore  rest in peace.

Moving on after the prayer service, we had our breakfast, moved to the conference hall to prepare ourselves for the activities of the day to take off at 9.am.  The General Council also let us in the opening prayer to start the agenda of the day. Before the business commenced it was suggested that all the other non-Ghanaian delegation should rise and go round to wish the Ghanaian brothers condolences for the loss of our brother Isidore.

 With this ceremony done, we settled for the day’s activities comprising voting on the Proposals to convert them into resolutions, voting on the 36^th General Chapter message and Any Other Business (A.O.B).  Before this, a good will message from the Malawian Province by the Vice Provincial Superior was read to the house on the election of the General Council.

With this done, the house proceeded to take the first item on the agenda which was voting on the Proposals which were earlier on debated, corrected and prepared to be voted on and convert into resolutions. In all 21 resolutions were tabled and voted on, having gone through them one by one. With the Proposals now turned Resolutions, it  then becomes the mandated to carry out by the new General Council for the coming 6 years.

General Chapter Message. The final draft of the message was distributed to all the delegates. It was read through paragraph by paragraph to the end and all the minor corrections were made. At the end of the message it was found good and suiting for the purpose for which we have gathered. It was subsequently voted on representing the summary of all the discussions we have done here to share with all the brothers and our collaborators.

A.O.B. Delegates were informed to carry all unwanted documents/papers etc. to the secretariat where it can be disposed of conveniently since there are other confidential material solely for the brothers.

Delegates were also reminded of their flight dates and times, and asked any who may need special arrangement to be made to ensure that everyone was comfortable. With this, the session was brought to a close as there was no other matter to be discussed. It was a day well spent. 

Henry Surnye, FIC