Elan Missionary in Benin After participating in the diaconal ordination of certain MCCJs in Aného in the diocese of Aného this Saturday, July 27, the chaplain Fr. Ephrem, MCCJ and Justin, LMC took the road to Cotonou, the capital of the Republic of Benin. The fundamental goal is to visit our candidates and also do vocational promotion. We were welcomed to the MCCJ Novitiate in Cotonou where we stayed together with certain novices and scholastics, the father master and his assistant being in Rome for training. On Sunday morning, we were at the parish of St. Joan of Arc of Sedegbe (Parish where we celebrated the international day of CLM on December 15, 2022 at the end of the African Assembly in Cotonou). The mass was in honour of Grandparents, fourth Edition of the Archdiocese of Cotonou to have a special look for the elderly. This is in line with Pope Francis’ message titled ‘In my old age, forget me not’. A collection was made in this line. Towards the end of the celebration, the chaplain was able to briefly speak about the CLM and introduced the provincial coordinator. At the end, some people expressed their desire to know more about CLM. The coordinator told them a little about CLM and took their contacts to maintain communication with them.
In the evening, we met our candidates Lucien, his wife and Ulrich thanks to the effort of Brother Pascal, MCCJ who accompanies the group in Benin. We had to share about the history, mission, training and challenges of CLM in the world and in the province and reflect on the best strategy to adopt for the consolidation of the CLM Association in the province.
We were also able to meet certain members of the ’Friends of Comboni’ Association to inspire in them the desire to journey like CLM.
Monday July 29, around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, we headed back to Ghana.
Justin Nougnui, CLM Coordinator.
