From Fr. Charles K. Arthur
The Institute of Continuing Formation (ICF) at Elmina in the Archdiocese of Cape Coast, recently marked its Silver Jubilee celebration with a Thanksgiving Mass presided over by Most Rev. Jean Marie Speich, Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana.
The Anniversary Mass was concelebrated by Most Rev. Matthias Kobena Nketsiah, Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast and Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie, CSSp, Bishop of Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese and many Priests.
In a homily, the Nuncio exhorted Religious Men and Women and all Christians to be prayerful, thankful and joyful in all circumstances because these simple acts of faith in God, would lead to abundance of blessings.
Speaking to a text from Isaiah 12, Archbishop Speich said that even though the Prophet Isaiah had not seen the deliverance of the people of Israel, he still encouraged them to be thankful to God because He was ever desirous to comfort His people in their spiritual struggles.
He urged the Religious Men and Women to live their lives as giving deliverance to the people they ministered to in their various Apostolates as God would do and also endeavour to bring salvation to others like Jesus would do, he said.
Archbishop Speich asked them to be conscious of their calling and use their freedom to deepen their relationship with God.
Archbishop Nketsiah and Bishop Kwofie congratulated the Conference of Religious Men and Women in Ghana for their vision and effort in establishing the Institute.
Some past and present Staff of the Institute were honoured for their dedicated service to the Institute.
Rev. Bro. Bertrand Nee-Wayoe, Director of the Institute, paid tribute to the past Directors and Board members who had worked tirelessly to sustain the Institute for the past 25 years.
He said the Conference of Major Superiors of Ghana realised that among its members, individual Congregations had personnel and resources that, if well mobilized, could respond to the need to equip and train Religious for the Ministry of Formation.
A Training Programme in Ghana could thus be structured and given an orientation and focus that would find meaning in, and also be relevant to the African situation.
The Major Superiors decided to collaborate with one another and to pool their resources together. The outcome of all the efforts was the birth of the Institute for Continuing Formation (ICF) on January 10, 1992.
Rev. Bro. Maarten Bouw, a Dutch FIC Brother became the first Director of the Institute. Together with Sr. Virginia Tuonebe, SMI, and Bro. Nee Wayoe, CSC, they formed the pioneering core team to begin the Institute and to see to its growth and development.
Since then Br. Jan Kleinpenning, FIC of blessed memory, Fr. Mark Schramm, SVD, Sister Donna Webber, SSpS, Bro. Robert Aaron, CFC and Rev. Fr. Vincent Kwame Owusu, SVD, have succeeded Bro. Maarten as Directors.
The Religious who had served on the Staff of the Institute included Bro. Vincent Gross, CSC, Sr. Madeleine Sophie Korsah, OLA, Sr. Helen Kennedy, FMM, Sr. Genevieve Offori-Atta, HDR, Sr. Veronica Enooson, SIJ of blessed memory, Sr. Rebecca Dombero, SMI, Bro. Paul Mensah, CSC and Sr. Philothea Osibe, SMMC.
From its humble beginning, the Institute has gradually grown and today offers quality and holistic formation to the Religious and Priests. Efforts continue to be made to expand and improve upon existing programmes, while other services like Counseling, Psychotherapy, Spiritual Direction and Retreats are also being provided.
Participants and Staff had come from many cultural and International backgrounds including Ghana, New Zealand, Nigeria, The Nederland, Angola, Cameroon, Australia, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Malawi, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Egypt, South Africa, and Liberia.
Others were India, Indonesia, The Philippines, Brazil, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Poland and the U.S.A. Over the twenty-five year period, over 1,000 Religious and Priests had gone through the various programmes. Our outreach services have been of significant benefit to well over 1,000 people too.
Archbishops Speich, Nketsiah, Bishop Kwofie and some Priests at the programme.
