African Ministry goals for 2021

By Tanya Connor 

The Catholic Free Press 

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

A youth convention for Ghanaians from Massachusetts and nearby states is scheduled to be hosted by the Worcester Diocese’s African Ministry next summer. 

 It is among goals for 2020 – unrealized because of the coronavirus pandemic – that the ministry is trying to bring to fruition in 2021.  

With the start of each new liturgical year at the beginning of Advent, the ministry announces a new theme and goals.  

But this liturgical year, “we plan to repeat the Year of Evangelization,” because of limits in 2020, said Father Enoch K. Kyeremateng, chaplain. The theme is “Go ye therefore and proclaim the good news” (Mt 28:19a).  

Some means of evangelization were employed in 2020, including the establishment of a second medical clinic, a “young professionals group” and small Christian communities. Others are hoped for, including a new African parish community. 

The new African community was to be established in 2020 at St. Cecilia Parish in Leominster, welcomed by then pastor Father Robert D. Bruso, Father Kyeremateng said. 

“We’re still going to do it in his honor,” he said, adding that this plan was mentioned in the homily at Father Bruso’s funeral July 11. “They have a lot of Africans in that neighborhood and they’ve been attracted to the Protestant churches. … We need to bring them back home.” 

CONVENTIONS 

The ministry is also trying to bring together active Catholics – and those they invite to conventions. 

“We are hosting the youth convention, evangelizing our youth,” Father Kyeremateng said. Dioceses take turns hosting this annual gathering, he said.  

“It is open to anybody,” he said, but is focused on Ghanaians from the Worcester Diocese and communities in Lowell, Pittsfield, East Hartford, Connecticut; Newark, New Jersey, and Brooklyn and Queens, New York.  

“They are all coming here” July 29-Aug. 1, he said. “We will have it at Assumption University.” 

Since the youth convention was postponed from 2020, the annual convention for Ghanaian adults, which draws more than 1,000 participants, is to be held in 2022 in Newark, Father Kyeremateng said. That will be the Year of Our Mother, postponed from 2021. Its theme is, “Behold, from now on all ages shall call me blessed” (Lk 1:48). 

NEW CLINIC 

One accomplishment in 2020 was extending the free medical program at St. Anne Parish in Shrewsbury to St. Peter Parish in Worcester, Father Kyeremateng said.  

(In 2015 the African Ministry began sponsoring St. Anne’s Free Medical Program, which was begun by Dr. Harvey G. Clermont, a local Catholic medical doctor, in 1996. Also, one of the African communities is part of St. Peter Parish, worshipping at its mission, St. Andrew the Apostle.) 

Last March the clinic in St. Anne’s Father Smith Center was closed because of the pandemic, but it reopened July 14, and the new clinic, held in St. Peter’s gym, opened Aug. 27, Father Kyeremateng said. 

“Both clinics are open and they are following the protocols to get people healthy,” he said. Hours are 6-8 p.m., on Tuesdays at St. Anne’s and on Thursdays at St. Peter’s.  

Reservations and insurance are not needed, he said. Healthcare professionals who volunteer their services see those who come, referring them elsewhere if necessary. More nurses are needed.  

“It’s part of evangelization … taking care of people’s health needs, supporting volunteers, encouraging them about their ministry … to the sick,” he said. He said Msgr. Francis J. Scollen, St. Peter’s pastor, brings encouragement just by being present there. 

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS GROUP 

Another accomplishment in 2020 was forming a “young professionals group” of college undergraduates, who were to meet in person, but met online instead, Father Kyeremateng said.  

The group’s goal is “to let them know they can achieve professionalism” by studying hard and including God in their studies, he said. It’s also to ward off negative peer pressure and keep them in the Catholic Church.  

They planned graduation Masses for high school seniors, which were held at St. Joan of Arc Parish and at St. Andrew’s Mission in Worcester, Father Kyeremateng said.  

“It was wonderful,” he said. “Because of the pandemic, schools couldn’t hold graduations.”  

At the Masses there were gifts for graduates (to encourage them to study hard) and videos highlighting each of them, with congratulatory remarks from priests, he said. The idea was to initiate them into the young professionals group. College graduates were honored too. 

FAITH SHARING 

A 2020 plan partially realized was the establishment of small basic Christian communities, Father Kyeremateng said. 

He said 12 were established at St. Joan of Arc, seven at St. Andrew’s, and one at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Fitchburg. (These parishes, and St. Paul Cathedral, are where the diocese’s African communities gather.) 

The plan was for people to gather in homes to pray, share Scripture and get to know each other, he said. But members met only online. The children’s summer Bible classes were also virtual. And the Bible Society didn’t start up.  

 The African ministry also postponed its 2020 plans to hold a senior citizens’ seminar and a celebration for retired priests, and to sing at other parishes and continue serving at the Mustard Seed soup kitchen in Worcester, Father Kyeremateng said.  

He expressed hope that all of these plans, and Bishop McManus’ annual visits to the African communities, can happen – in person – in 2021. 

A pilgrimage to the Holy Land was rescheduled for April 21-May 1, 2021, and the pilgrimage to Rome pushed to October 2023, he said. People can still register for both by contacting the African Ministry office. 

Looking back on the just-finished liturgical year, Father Kyeremateng said, “We are very grateful to God” that community members who tested positive for the virus recovered. He said the African community extends condolences to all who lost loved ones.  

The pandemic is meant “to deepen our faith – not to lose it,” he said. “We can never understand the mind of God. … We only hope and pray that he grants healing to the whole world.”