Province Of Nigeria
Two years or so after the 5th Provincial Chapter, many Brother of the Province felt, it was time to stop, evaluate and orientate the Province once again in what areas that may be called for.
The Assembly started with the National Convention of the Lay Marist Movements in the Province. More than one hundred members were in attendance with a good number of Brothers also presents. New members from different Fraternities were received. This convention allowed the members a forum to socialise as member of a family and exchange ideas.
During this Convention, the laypeople elected their representative, by a very democratic process, to the Mission Assembly in Brazil. Their delegate is in the person of Mr. Matthias Odemeh. Mr. Odemeh is an English teacher in our school. He has some proficiency in French Language. Mr. Odemeh has had contact with the Brothers for over forty years and a sound practising Catholic. At this Convention, the Fraternities were requested to come out with a plan for supporting the Brothers in vocations recruiting and with suggestions of topics that would be included in the Laity Formation Guide being developed in the Province.
Forty-five Brothers attended the Assembly. The Assembly reviewed the different aspects of our life in the light of the Reports of Kalisa and Maurice, Councillors General that visited the Province and resolutions of the 5th Provincial Chapter. The Participants felt that the Assembly was a renewal of the Province and urge one another, the Provincial and the Provincial Council to implement the recommendation of the Assembly.
The Assembly recommended to all the Brothers of the Province to renew their spiritual life to go back to their original motivations. The Brothers should revitalise once again their vowed life in the midst of the contemporary lures, naming a few, secularism Modernism and post-modernism, rush for fame and wealth, prevalent in the Nigerian society, quest for absolute freedom and bastardisation sexuality.
The attention of the communities were drawn to the need to build up a community of Brotherhood and growth of the individual members; the need for strong community support of the brothers spiritual life and the need for the Local Superiors to interview the Brothers of their community regularly, as their right.
The Br. Provincial and his Council were recommended to intensify efforts in the ongoing formation of the Brothers especially at professional level to meet the changing times. The Council must do something about the startling financial situation of the Province, especially as it concerns the social security of the Brothers.
The assembly equally gave us the opportunity to affirm the wonderful things going on in the life of the Brothers and in the Province. We affirmed the apostolic zeal and missionary spirit of the Brothers, the strong community life of the Province and the willingness of the Brothers to live within the means of the Province. That we have kept afloat in the midst of oppressive social conditions of the country is a credit to the Brothers fidelity.
Br. Johnson Nwokeiwu