West Africa district celebrates its chapter
The chapter of West Africa district was celebrated in Accra, Ghana, from 10– 14 Aug., during which Brother Francis Lukong started his second mandate as district superior.
Brother Antonio Giménez, current provincial of the Mediterranea province, addressed some words at the beginning of the chapter at the district house.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude to Francis and his council for their work over the past triennium,” he said. “Thanks, Francis, for your willingness to be in front of the district for a new mandate.”
“I extend my gratitude to all of you who have accepted the responsibility of being capitulants,” he added.
He also included some words of encouragement noting “the district is on the move and each community must be on the move.”
“The solutions to the challenges of the district are in the district itself, and depend more on the quality than the quantity of its members,” remarked Br Antonio.
Brother Francis underscored that “as a district council, we worked as a team promoting the unity of the district.”
“Conscious of the fact that our district is made up of communities rather than countries, we continued to empower the local superiors to animate and promote each community as the district in miniature and encourage Brothers to be available for service anywhere in the district,” he stated.
Alongside Br Francis and the provincial, the group includes 14 other Brothers. Brother Ernesto Sánchez was present, as link general councillor for West Africa.
Others were also invited to participate including Num Timothy, a lay Marist that represented the vocation of Marist laity, Brother Pascal Birkem, as district secretary and bursar, Brother Aureliano García, and Brother Juan Carlos Fuertes, who is the appointed provincial for the Mediterranea Province.
The three priorities that the discussions focused on included community living, ongoing formation, and self-reliance/financial autonomy.
The new district council was elected, now formed by Brothers Vincent Me, Simon Kanjam, Daniel Taylor, Francis Lukong and Sebastian Kangurinuuri Erong.
Five Countries compose the district: Chad, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Cameroon. There are currently 73 Brothers from these five Countries, and also one from United States in Liberia, and one from Spain in Chad.