The participants of the three and nine month temporary professed and formators programme respectively in the Institute for Continuing Formation (ICF), Elmina-Cape Coast, has organized a festival of nine lessons and carols.
It was a day of joy and laughter and rejoicing on December 14, 2024 as the 2024/2025 batch of the institute’s participants sang carols to mark the festive season.
The day was characterized by singing of carols ranging from solos, duets and the various groups in which the participants grouped themselves, with names such as the joyful, and noble groups.
The St. Cecilia choir which was formed by the participants themselves also gave marvelous performance with Bro Maxwell Turkson, a visitor as their organist.
The celebration was chaired by, Bro. Emmanuel Affum, SVD, Director of the Institute and assisted by Sr. Maria Chekwubechukwu, IHM, a participant in the formators programme.
Bro. Affum, in his Christmas message, wandered painfully how, Christmas consumerism and materialism seem to have entered the Church.
The decoration in the Church, the glittering liturgical vestments, the symbol of power and the celebrations were only close second to the secular ones.
“Has secularism gotten into the church-right onto the sanctuary?” he asked, saying, “The absence of Jesus Christ with his vision and mission in this modern Christmas celebration is a powerful symbol of the reality of religion without spirituality.”
“During this season, I can only think and feel sad for the millions of refugees and the street children, all over the world, who have “no room for them in the living space- Luke 2:7, no home to live a ‘normal’ human life of their own. My heart aches for these suffering people, and pains at the pharisaism of the powerful and the elite – both in politics and religion,” he further expressed.
The participants exchanged gifts among themselves amid singing and dancing. Rev Fr. Jean Benjamin Yavo, OFM, prayed the concluding prayer and blessed the meal which was shared at the end of the celebration.
By Sr. Bridget Kator, SMMC. (Sister Communicator)
