The Confraternity of Priests in Sierra Leone Move Towards Peace and Reconciliation
The Sierra Leone Confraternity of
Priests met in Mile 91 on January 27, 2017. It was both a retreat and a meeting
chaired by Rev. Fr. George Ehusani from Nigeria.
After the opening courtesies, Fr.
Ehusani, in his first session gave a clear picture of the Sierra Leone context;
a country that has suffered from a terrible civil war, a dreadful epidemic
Ebola and bad governance. For citizens depressed, oppressed and traumatized,
Fr. Ehusani noted that God can turn tragedy into blessings. He pointed out that
as wounded healers we are called to lead others. “He have failed and let down
our people but we can start afresh,” Fr. George indicated. In what follows we
present key issues in Fr. Ehusani’s address.
The fundamental aspect of
Christianity is moving away from the world’s ultimate goals to transcendental
ultimate goals. Jesus functions on a different set of parameters – losing life
to save it. As priests we are commissioned to help humanity and the flock
entrusted to our care to move away for this worldly achievement to
transcendental goal. The world needs credible witnesses.
Where are our lives oriented?
Priests have not made the required impact in the world because of our ego;
false self that dominates. We must seek to discover our real self as found in
God, in Christ. The invitation then is to walk towards self discovery and tune
self in Christ. We could make a lot more difference but our energies are
wrongly directed. How do we discover our true self and channel our energies to
our eternal calling. We need to conduct ourselves well following the example of
Christ who came “not to be served but to serve” (Mk. 10:45).
The following conclusions were
drawn:
What you sow you reap; there is no
escape from consequences,
As agents of eternal life, tell
people where they need to go. Don’t be bogged down by world issues but have a
clear vision statement,
We sometimes forget that we are
ambassadors of the heavenly kingdom,
In every sector of life we are a
sacrament to our people. Multiple internal crises makes us loss the sacramental
sign language,
Lack of unity is a direct affront,
a major scandal; sacrifice everyday to build unity
For every action there are
consequences
It is not always the person in the
right that wins in conflict
Our Lord Jesus Christ works through
human mischief. Human crookedness and wickedness cannot frustrate God’s plan;
God can turn it round for his own good. Applying this concept to the Church of
Sierra Leone means that with God all things are possible
Rejected leaders in history had
turned things around. Believe in yourself and have peace,
Look back at your live – the worst
traveling of your life can be a blessing.
In the second session Fr. Ehusani
shared with us two of his poems – Flames of Truth and Disarm your
hearts. He related the poems very well to our problems as a local Church
and underscored the need to correct past flaws and move on. Here are some
salient points from his talk:
The Christian idea of leadership is service. Material power makes us lose
spiritual power. We have configured the priesthood wrongly. We should move
beyond populism. Populism can destroy the local Church. Our dignity and true
status as priests go far beyond local champions.
The Church is universal and
transcends tribal politics. The universality of the Catholic Church and the
identity of the priest make him celebrate the Eucharist anywhere in the world.
When we forget our identity we dig the ground on which we stand. Ours is a
universal dignity and a royal privilege that should not be taken for granted.
As priests of our own generation we should not reduce ourselves to champions of
local groups. Sectional sentiments can go to extremes. Our call as priests has
a universal perspective; we are citizens of the world not local heroes. We are
champions of the poor and marginalized everywhere.
Fr. George concluded that what
happened in Sierra Leone over the appointment of Bishop Aruna shocked our
friends at Missio and all over the world. We let ourselves and our friends
down. He called on all present to start a new page in the history of the Church
in Sierra Leone. Priests were given the opportunity to ask questions and make
comments. The reconciliation process has started in earnest.
Rev. Fr. John Nat Tucker