African Ministry to focus on the Eucharist in 2023

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

The African Ministry is planning to focus on the Eucharist in 2023 by offering eucharistic adoration, a Corpus Christi procession, revised instruction for youth and a regional Ghanaian convention.
At the start of the new liturgical year each Advent, the African ministry announces a theme. This year’s theme is a response to the three-year National Eucharistic Revival that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops began last June, explained Father Enoch K. Kyeremateng, chaplain of the Worcester Diocese’s African Ministry.
The ministry serves people from 14 African countries, he said, with between 700 and 800 families. The ministry grew significantly between 2018 and 2019, he said. The community at St. Andrew the Apostle Mission in Worcester numbers 285-320 families; the Ghanaian community at St. Joan of Arc Parish in Worcester, 350-380 families; the St. Paul Cathedral community 20-27 families; and the St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Fitchburg community, 55-65 families. A 2023 census has not yet been conducted.
A retreat for leaders in these communities, with instruction about the Eucharist and eucharistic adoration, is scheduled for April 1 at St. Andrew’s, Father Kyeremateng said.
The leaders “are going to lead by example,” promoting an understanding of the Eucharist, he said. The ministry will promote devotion to Christ in the Eucharist through exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, he said.
This year adoration is to be added to the annual Easter Monday gathering for senior citizens, which will also include the usual Mass, discussion and meal, Father Kyeremateng said.
The societies and groups of men, women and young people in the African communities are to come together for quarterly adoration at St. Andrew’s and St. Joan of Arc, he said.
The monthly adoration at St. Andrew’s will be extended for half an hour; this year it will be from 7-8:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month.
Adoration at St. Joan of Arc will be held from 7-9 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month.
At the quarterly and monthly gatherings, in addition to providing silent time for adoration, Father Kyeremateng said he will read a Gospel passage about the Eucharist and give a talk about the Eucharist. The readings and talks will be in English, and the monthly talk at St. Joan of Arc will also be in Twi, a major language of the Ghanaians who worship there.
“We invite everyone to share with us,” he said. That includes people who are not Africans and members of the diocese’s other African communities.
To include St. Anthony’s growing, active community, which will need to travel to Worcester for monthly adoration, the other communities will go to Fitchburg for the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), Father Kyeremateng said. There will be a Mass, adoration, a procession with the Eucharist in a monstrance through the streets and a cookout.
“We invite Africans … everyone, to join us,” he said.
Father Kyeremateng said he trained a catechist for St. Anthony’s and met with the religious education teachers from St. Andrew’s and St. Joan of Arc to help them teach the youth more about the Eucharist.
“This is very important for us, because we realize the youth, young adults, those in colleges, lack an understanding of the Eucharist,” he said. “They are our major targets during this eucharistic year. … The plan is to do everything possible to let the little ones understand that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian faith.”
He noted that belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist “sets Catholics apart from other Christians,” because, in the Eucharist, Catholics receive the true body and blood of Christ.
This was what Jesus preached, and many people left him because of it, Father Kyeremateng said.
“We need to teach our little ones that they have nowhere to go than to be a Catholic,” Father Kyeremateng said. “And to be a Catholic is to understand the gift that Christ gives us … his very self” – his body and blood.
The Eucharist will be the theme of the annual Ghanaian Catholic laity convention, which the Worcester Diocese’s Ghanaians are hosting this year, Father Kyeremateng said. He expects about 1,000 Ghanaians from New England, New York and New Jersey to attend the Aug. 11-13 convention at the DCU Center in Worcester.
Father Kyeremateng said he is to lead an African Ministry pilgrimage to the Holy Land in April, as he did in 2022, and one to Rome in October. He plans to celebrate Mass each day on the trips. Anyone interested in going can contact the African Ministry office at 508-929-4329.
Father Kyeremateng said he appreciates Bishop Mc-Manus’ “fatherly love and spiritual support.” He also thanked Father Richard F. Reidy, vicar general, who celebrates annual Masses for the communities.