Fr. Joeven Matugas, sx
The Religious Men and Women of Sierra Leone celebrated the Annual National Day of Consecrated Life on Monday the 29th of April 2024. This year was held and hosted by the Confraternity of Religious in the Diocese of Makeni.
The celebration began with the Input of Bro. Michael Koroma – the President of the Religious Superiors Conference. He shared to us some preliminaries of the Conference of Religious Superiors in relation to the Conference of Bishops and the Church. And to promote good relationships and communications among Religious Congregations and the Bishops. It highlights also the functions of Confraternities in every Diocese to coordinate and implement programs of the conference and engaged ourselves to confront social issues.
The 2nd part was the Talk on Health Issues and Concerns among Religious as a chosen topic for this year. Bro./Dr. Benedict Kanu of the St John of God – the invited speaker, shared the health issues and concerns among religious people in order to live a healthy lifestyle. Bro. Kanu in his presentation said, that the non-communicable disease is the number one killer of the world today. 1) cardiovascular disease – hypertensions, heart blockage, stroke 2) metabolic disease - diabetes, obesity 3) chronic lung disease – asthma 4) cancers in all types 5) anxiety disturbances.
Stress is risk factors in a way that we don’t have sufficient time of rest ourselves because of the burdens of work. He suggested to control these parameters of stress and avoid something that triggers to it. We have to eat well and on-time. We need physical activities and enough hours of sleep but not too much. As religious, we have to take care of our health so that we can serve others.
The 3rd part, was the celebration of the Holy Eucharist in the Cathedral. This year the Mass was presided over by the Vicar General of the Diocese Rev. Fr. Dominic Johnson in behalf of the Bishop. Our celebration also coincided with the Memorial of St Catherine of Siena – patroness of Light and led a renewal of religious life on her time. Fr. Johnson encouraged the Religious to be the light and not work for fame and self-glory. Inside the Mass, we remembered the two Religious Fr. Gabriel Luseni, cssp and Brother Joseph Turay, cfc - who passed away on the previous days.
The finale of the celebration was the fraternal get-together Lunch and informal sharing and joyous conversations.
The Religious Men and Women of Sierra Leone celebrated the Annual National Day of Consecrated Life on Monday the 29th of April 2024. This year was held and hosted by the Confraternity of Religious in the Diocese of Makeni.
The celebration began with the Input of Bro. Michael Koroma – the President of the Religious Superiors Conference. He shared to us some preliminaries of the Conference of Religious Superiors in relation to the Conference of Bishops and the Church. And to promote good relationships and communications among Religious Congregations and the Bishops. It highlights also the functions of Confraternities in every Diocese to coordinate and implement programs of the conference and engaged ourselves to confront social issues.
The 2nd part was the Talk on Health Issues and Concerns among Religious as a chosen topic for this year. Bro./Dr. Benedict Kanu of the St John of God – the invited speaker, shared the health issues and concerns among religious people in order to live a healthy lifestyle. Bro. Kanu in his presentation said, that the non-communicable disease is the number one killer of the world today. 1) cardiovascular disease – hypertensions, heart blockage, stroke 2) metabolic disease - diabetes, obesity 3) chronic lung disease – asthma 4) cancers in all types 5) anxiety disturbances.
Stress is risk factors in a way that we don’t have sufficient time of rest ourselves because of the burdens of work. He suggested to control these parameters of stress and avoid something that triggers to it. We have to eat well and on-time. We need physical activities and enough hours of sleep but not too much. As religious, we have to take care of our health so that we can serve others.
The 3rd part, was the celebration of the Holy Eucharist in the Cathedral. This year the Mass was presided over by the Vicar General of the Diocese Rev. Fr. Dominic Johnson in behalf of the Bishop. Our celebration also coincided with the Memorial of St Catherine of Siena – patroness of Light and led a renewal of religious life on her time. Fr. Johnson encouraged the Religious to be the light and not work for fame and self-glory. Inside the Mass, we remembered the two Religious Fr. Gabriel Luseni, cssp and Brother Joseph Turay, cfc - who passed away on the previous days.
The finale of the celebration was the fraternal get-together Lunch and informal sharing and joyous conversations.