Dear and Rev. Bro. Irudayasamy,
Fraternal greetings from Bro. Harry!
This is to inform you the good news that the 25th anniversary of the SFO in Burkina Faso passed off in wonderful fashion on 17/02/2008. Sorry for not being able to contact you after the SFO meeting of 10/02/2008. Everything happened so quickly, because people were ready and waiting to be informed about the celebration. At present we have 4 fraternities in Burkina Faso, each in four different cities. Only three fraternities were represented in the celebration. On the eve of the celebration, we organised a recollection for the all the participants after which there was confession and the rehearsal of the ceremony (the rite of perpetual profession). Six persons made their life-long promise. Sr. Wilhelmina preached the recollection. She was present even for the preparatory meeting on 10/02/2008. She was very supportive right through. On the following day, the mass was presided by the Vicar General of the Archidiocese. The Archbishop could not come, because that day he went to another parish for the enthronement ceremony of a new parish priest. The entire liturgy was beautifully executed. I read the Gospel and preached the homily in two languages. The profession too went on well just as prescribed inb the ritual. Sr. Wilhelmina was one of the witnesses. After the profession, we gave the perpetually professed a copy of the SFO Rules in French, a Tau and a photo of St. Francis of Assisi. We also had two copoy of documents of profession signed by the professed, the ministre of the fraternity, by the witnesses and the Vicar General; one copy for the SFO office and one for our capuchin archives. The conventual spiritual assistant could not be present, whereas the observant spiritual assistant took video of the entire celebration. During the felicitaions, apart from the ministre of the fraternity and Willie, Vicar General also spoke highly of the SFO vocation and its meaning, which touched so many of our parishioners. Being sa Sunday, there was a huge crowd of around 3500 people. After the mass, we took the opportunity to have national meeting with the SFO members come from different parts of Burkina Faso. Travelling in this part of the world is not an easy affair, but on the whole around 30 members were present. So we took the opportunity to elect a provisional national office-holders in oqrder to pave way for the recognition of the national structure in Burkina Faso and to coordinate the future activities at the national level at least till the SFO in Burkina Faso becomes relatively strong. Sr. Willie presided over the election formalities, and I blessed the newly elected office members, proposed to them some of the immediate and urgent projects that they have to work on in the immediate future, namely, planning out some national and local level activities; contacting the dispersed professed SFO members all over Burkina Faso; writing to the SFO General Council for recognition of the national structure in Burkina faso (atleast a provisional status); Gathering the 25 years of history of the SFO in Burkina Faso, preparing an SFO Guide in French; etc. After the meeting, we had the festal lunch, which had the participation of many FMM sisters and St. Francis of Assisi sisters, and apart from Willie, there were two other foreigners. Two SFO members from UK, namely Gillie and Judith and one SFO member from Swizterland called Vittorio. Thus our celebration had an international dimemnsion. Our community friars were very supportive in all the preparation. We all returned with a lot of joy, pride and opotimism for the future of SFO in Burkina Faso. So now you may choose the date according to your convenience and and come an visit the SFO members in mission. And when you come, knowing the situations, the future projects and questions of the situation here, I request you to offer us more ideas and guidelines to move in the forward direction. With love and prayers,
Bro. Harry
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