Closing remarks on Ghana Mission Trip: Praise the Lord! Although we have already returned to the states, we wanted to make sure and blog the remaining four days of the expedition. We hope you take time to read these entries. Day 18: We began with a trip to the novitiate. This is the place in where the women begin their active formation in discernment of religious life. Here is a picture with the young women currently in active formation. We had Mass and breakfast with them and were able to share a bit of our hopes and dreams fro the Place 2B in Oshkosh. Many of them were excited about the prospect of serving in America someday! The remainder of the day was for rest and relaxation. Father Walter, Drew, and myself rested in the afternoon knowing that tomorrow would be the diocese's ordination in Accra. Day 19: We departed early for the ordination in Accra. Again, it was a long celebration, but very invigorating to see so many men give their lives to Christ as Catholic priests. We were able to sit with the presbyterate and laid hands on the newly ordained. It was yet another experience of the universal Church. Today was the most strenuous days of travel. After driving three hours to Accra, we departed for Sister Mary Assumpta and Celestine's home village. This would be another four hours up in the Volta
Upper River Region. Our driver was young and reckless, but we arrived nonetheless at about six in the evening. We drove into the village right in time to see the end of the parade. 
Yes, there was a parade with the sisters atop a truck with people dancing and singing as they rejoiced in their final vows. It was amazing to see the entire village celebrating their arrival and the fact that they had given their lives to Christ. Here you can see the sisters riding in the parade. It was a moving experience! No pun intended! We marched right to the chief's palace (a small ranch style brick house) and they did some local tribal traditional things...don't ask me what. We then proceeded to the local parish, St. Peters. There we had adoration and benediction to close the long day out. But it wasn't over yet because we had to travel to Father Rafael's house about twenty-five minutes away. It turns out he is a professor at the seminary at Ghana, had studied in Rome for sometime and knows twelve different languages. We met his father who converted to Catholicism from the local pagan religion, Fetish, and his grandfather was baptized at the age of 92! They were first generation 
converts from a religion of idolatry and polygamy to the monotheism of Christianity. We stayed up late into the night in a great discussion about the Catholic Church in Africa. Day 20: This was the big day to say the least. We celebrated a thanksgiving Mass with the village in honor of Sister Assumpta and Celestine. The Mass began at 9am and ended at 12:30pm with a two hour program afterward. It was a powerful celebration and there were a ton of people there to celebrate. I had the opportunity to thank the people of the village for raising Sister Celestine and Assumpta in the faith because the same gifts the community has instilled in these two women are gifts that are being shared half way around the world in our own Church. That evening we headed back to Accra with the same wild driver, but once again we made it to our destination safely. 
Upper River Region. Our driver was young and reckless, but we arrived nonetheless at about six in the evening. We drove into the village right in time to see the end of the parade. 
Yes, there was a parade with the sisters atop a truck with people dancing and singing as they rejoiced in their final vows. It was amazing to see the entire village celebrating their arrival and the fact that they had given their lives to Christ. Here you can see the sisters riding in the parade. It was a moving experience! No pun intended! We marched right to the chief's palace (a small ranch style brick house) and they did some local tribal traditional things...don't ask me what. We then proceeded to the local parish, St. Peters. There we had adoration and benediction to close the long day out. But it wasn't over yet because we had to travel to Father Rafael's house about twenty-five minutes away. It turns out he is a professor at the seminary at Ghana, had studied in Rome for sometime and knows twelve different languages. We met his father who converted to Catholicism from the local pagan religion, Fetish, and his grandfather was baptized at the age of 92! They were first generation 
converts from a religion of idolatry and polygamy to the monotheism of Christianity. We stayed up late into the night in a great discussion about the Catholic Church in Africa. Day 20: This was the big day to say the least. We celebrated a thanksgiving Mass with the village in honor of Sister Assumpta and Celestine. The Mass began at 9am and ended at 12:30pm with a two hour program afterward. It was a powerful celebration and there were a ton of people there to celebrate. I had the opportunity to thank the people of the village for raising Sister Celestine and Assumpta in the faith because the same gifts the community has instilled in these two women are gifts that are being shared half way around the world in our own Church. That evening we headed back to Accra with the same wild driver, but once again we made it to our destination safely. 
Day 21: The day of departure, we took it easy. It was Sister Brigid's birthday so we baked her a cake. Here she is before making her wish. Unfortunately, the Internet was down so we were 
unable to post. Our departure time was set for 9pm and we had to be at the airport at 6pm. Here's a picture of our goodbye to the sisters. Day 22: We arrived home to an awesome welcome! It was a long journey, but well worth it. Here you can see the crew that showed up in Green Bay to welcome 
us back. Now after two days and being back in the parish, I'm recuperating from a bit of a cold. Father Walter has two weddings this weekend and Drew is back to the seminary. We were able to visit with Bishop Zubik yesterday and ended our experience the way we began with a great conversation with our parting shepherd. In the weeks and months to come, we will be thinking a lot about our time in Ghana and waiting on the Lord to further our understanding of His will. 
We are grateful to many of you who have supported us in prayer. We hope that these reflections have helped you better understand the Catholic Church in Ghana for this trip has certainly given us a new understanding of Church. Africa has much to offer to us in the United States. We have something to offer to them. It is our hope that we can have a reciprocated relationship with the Handmaids and the greater Church in Africa through Father Carr's Place 2B. Ghana is much different than other countries in Africa. There is an innocence and simplicity among the people that have left them perhaps untainted by westernization. Unlike much of Africa, Ghana has remained peaceful. There is an understanding between Christians and Muslims and even between different native tribes. There is a cohesiveness that seems to exist thanks to their faith and strong desire for community. Hopefully this can be a source of leadership for other African countries for they are not so fortunate. As Pope Benedict shared in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth:
unable to post. Our departure time was set for 9pm and we had to be at the airport at 6pm. Here's a picture of our goodbye to the sisters. Day 22: We arrived home to an awesome welcome! It was a long journey, but well worth it. Here you can see the crew that showed up in Green Bay to welcome 
us back. Now after two days and being back in the parish, I'm recuperating from a bit of a cold. Father Walter has two weddings this weekend and Drew is back to the seminary. We were able to visit with Bishop Zubik yesterday and ended our experience the way we began with a great conversation with our parting shepherd. In the weeks and months to come, we will be thinking a lot about our time in Ghana and waiting on the Lord to further our understanding of His will. 
We are grateful to many of you who have supported us in prayer. We hope that these reflections have helped you better understand the Catholic Church in Ghana for this trip has certainly given us a new understanding of Church. Africa has much to offer to us in the United States. We have something to offer to them. It is our hope that we can have a reciprocated relationship with the Handmaids and the greater Church in Africa through Father Carr's Place 2B. Ghana is much different than other countries in Africa. There is an innocence and simplicity among the people that have left them perhaps untainted by westernization. Unlike much of Africa, Ghana has remained peaceful. There is an understanding between Christians and Muslims and even between different native tribes. There is a cohesiveness that seems to exist thanks to their faith and strong desire for community. Hopefully this can be a source of leadership for other African countries for they are not so fortunate. As Pope Benedict shared in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth:We see how the peoples of Africa, lying robbed and plundered, matter to us. Then we see how deeply they are our neighbors; that our lifestyle, the history in which we are involved, has plundered them and continues to do so. This is true above all in the sense that we have wounded their souls. Instead of giving them God, the God who comes close to us in Christ, which would have integrated and brought to completion all that is precious and great in their own traditions, we have given them the cynicism of a world without God in which all that counts is power and profit, a world that destroys moral standards so that corruption and unscrupulous will to power are taken for granted. And this applies not only to Africa.
Ghana seems to be rising above the woundedness our civilization has caused them. They rely on their faith and the importance of family. Certainly, industrialization will be a threat to their way of life in the future, but for now, their poverty is a great gift which has given them the propensity to be simple, humble, joyful, and willing to share and to serve. Jean Vanier, in his book, Community and Growth, has this to say:
Village people in Africa and other poor countries have a quality of life. They know how to live in families and communities, even though they don't always know how to act efficiently. I sometimes meet missionaries who know all sorts of things: build schools and hospitals, teach and take care of people. They sometimes even know how to play an effective part in political struggles. But they don't often know how to live together. Their house does not seem joyful or alive; it doesn't feel like a community where everyone is relaxed and bound together in deep relationships. That is sad, because Christians should above all bear witness by their lives. That is as important today, when African countries are torn between village traditions and a taste for money and progress, as it has ever been. Missionaries often seem to be saying that successful living depends on being able to use machinery and costly techniques, on having a refrigerator and a car. I always marvel at the Little Sisters of Jesus, the sisters of Mother Theresa, and others who live among their people and bear witness by their lives.
He is right. There is a quality of life and it doesn't refer to material possessions, but to the quality of life of the immaterial, the transcendent, the intangibles. We have learned that individualism, materialism, and a mentality of self-reliance here in the United States is a much greater poverty. It has produced a complex set of ailments of the soul which include drug addiction, loss of the dignity of life, depression, anxiety, suicide, and loneliness. These are poverties of the soul which can result when we stray from the communal aspect of our faith tradition. Father Bright Kennedy said it best in our discussion with him at his small parish in Northern Ghana. He said, “Descartes claimed, 'I think therefore I am.' In Ghana we say, 'I belong to this family therefore I am.'” It is true. We discovered that community in Ghana comes natural, that family is the bedrock of existence. It has pointed out to us even more the lack of an integrated family structure here in the States. Community in Ghana seems to be pre-industrial, agrarian. In our post-modern, post-industrial society, we need to be intential about community. We need to foster places of acceptance and love. Places where others can find the peace in being a part of something larger than themselves. A place connected to God. A place that reminds me of a particular place here in the States, The Place 2B. Saved 2 Serve!
