OASIS 2023, 9^th October Report

On the 09^th October, 2023 we started with our usual morning prayer led by the brothers from Ghana Province at 7:30 am, followed by breakfast. At 9:00am we started the day’s programme which was a Pilgrimage to the family house and birthplace of Msgr. Louis Rutten.  From here we visited St. Matthias Church, the Church where Fr. Louis Rutten said his first mass after his ordination.

The pilgrimage was led by Br. Augustine Kubdaar (The General Superior) and Br. Gerard Langelaan with other General Council members present. When we got the house where our founder was born, Br. Augustine gave a brief family history of our founder. Among other things, he said that Msgr. Louis Rutten was born on 8^th December, 1809 to Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Rutten and Rutten was the sixth born of nine children (four males and five females)

Br. Augustine added that Louis Rutten lost both mother and father when he was seven and thirty-three years respectively. After this we observed a moment of silence in prayer, after which we got the opportunity to enter the main hall of the house and saw the door leading to the room where he was born. As expected, we took some photographs and moved on to other historical places of our congregation. 

Along the same street, we had the opportunity to see some of the historical places of our congregation. Among others, we visited the chapel he built for the sisters who were helping him, the first Day Nursery school he started, a house he lived with his beloved sister, another house he bought for the Ursuline sisters who were also taking care of the single mothers, (a group Fr. Louis Rutten brought together to care for), etc.

From there we moved to St. Matthais Church where our founder celebrated his first Eucharist after his ordination as priest. In this church, we spent one hour fifteen minutes in prayer.

This was done in two parts; the first thirty minutes was used for personal reflections/prayers and the second part of the time was used to conduct a prayer service which was prepared by our General Superior with the theme Thanksgiving to God for our vocation. After this reflective period of prayer, we returned to the meeting centre for our lunch at 12 noon.

At 2:30pm we came together in the conference hall where we shared our experiences, impressions and feelings about the pilgrimage we embarked on the streets of Maastricht. This section was again facilitated by Br. Augustine Kubdaar (General Superior)

Among the many experiences shared by the participants, one thing ran through them, and that is: the pilgrimage brought us closer and in touch with the cradle of our congregation. It was a touching moment to have come in contact with the birth place of our Founder and where he started the FIC Congregation. All the works of our Founder point to the love and care he showed to all manner of people including the needy children at his time. 

At 5:00 pm, the participants met in their provincial groups to share with one another the outcome of their reflections and this took us to 6:00pm when we went for supper. The day’s activities finally came to a close with the usual evening Eucharistic celebration presided over by Fr. Raphel CM assisted by the Ghanaian delegates.                                                                          

Bro. Didas Toogumo (FIC)