The day after the vow renewal—Thursday, August 6—Br. Mosses drove Fr. Evandro and Fr. Jim to Dar es Salaam in order to catch their flight to Mwanza. Arriving on Friday, August 7, Fr. Evandro and Fr. Jim were met at the airport by Fr. Andrzej Duda, C.R., who is the director of novices in Buhemba. Unfortunately, Fr. Evandro’s luggage did not make it to Mwanza! After waiting for a few hours, the luggage arrived and we all departed for Butiama. The drive was now in the evening and it is safe to say that with the darkness and the bad roads, the five-hour drive was harrowing!
Fr. Phillip Justinian Makondo, C.R. is the pastor of Blessed Mary of the Blood of Jesus Parish in Butiama. He is assisted by Vitalis Masika, C.R., a perpetually professed Resurrectionist who is finished his theological studies and is currently serving in his pastoral year of studies. Fr. Evandro and Fr. Jim joined Fr. Phillip and Vitalis for Mass on Friday morning to begin the canonical visitation in Butiama.
There are many faithful young altar servers at the Butiama parish.
While Fr. Evandro was meeting with the men in Butiama, Fr. Yohana had journeyed from Dar es Salaam in order to lead the retreat for the 9 postulants who would be starting novitiate on August 15.
In addition to meeting with Fr. Phillip and Vitalis, Fr. Evandro had time to meet with the nine postulants who were on retreat in preparation for entry into novitiate. The postulants had spent a year under the direction of Br. Mosses at the formation house in Morogoro. They most recently returned from a vacation at their homes before this next stage in their initial formation to become Resurrectionists.
It is safe to say that they were excited, but a bit nervous about this next step. The retreat, led by Fr. Yohana, was a good preparation for them. They were also able to see a familiar face in Fr. Jim who also lived with them in Morogoro.
Fr. Maciej Braun, C.R., the pastor of Saint John Paul II Parish and Director of the Resurrection Schools in Buhemba, presided at Evening Prayer on August 14 as Fr. Evandro “handed over” the postulants to Fr. Andrzej so that they could begin novitiate.
Fr. Maciej presides and Fr. Evandro and Fr. Andrzej welcome the new novices.
So, as these young men begin novitiate, the next day will mark the end of novitiate for nine other young men who will profess their temporary vows for the first time.
Meanwhile, the process is underway to accept ten more young men as aspirants/postulants in Morogoro. It is quite amazing to see that in these three years there are 28 young men in the three earliest stage of initial formation: 10 aspirants, 9 novices, and 9 first-year philosophy seminarians. These young men will join the 14 seminarians who are studying now in Morogoro and the three young men in their pastoral year. That is a total of 45 men in various stages of initial formation.
More to come on www.resurrectionists.ca
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