SVD family in Ghana-Liberia urged to carry founder’s fire at 150th anniversary pilgrimage

by Catholic Trends

July 24, 2025

in Africa, Ghana, News

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Kpando, Daniel Orlando –Members of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), Ghana-Liberia Province, have been challenged to carry the “fire of the founder, not the ashes,” as the congregation celebrates 150 years of missionary witness and service around the world.

Preaching during a special commemorative Mass in Kpando, Rev. Fr. Andrew Anumu Quaye-Foli, SVD, called on members of the SVD family to resist the temptation of empty tradition and instead rekindle the living spirit that inspired their founder, St. Arnold Janssen.

“The spirit of the founder lives in people,” Fr. Quaye-Foli reminded the congregation, stressing that true fidelity to the SVD mission is found not in archives or history books, but in the lives of those who embody the founder’s zeal and vision today. “We are not called to keep the ashes of the founder. We are called to keep the fire of the founder burning.”

Fr. Quaye-Foli drew a stark warning from Scripture, referencing the rise of a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph. This forgetting, he explained, is what happens when communities lose their identity and fail to transmit their spiritual heritage: “The spirit of the founder is lost when people are lost; when people go away from the mission.”

Fr. Quaye-Foli made the call on Wednesday, July 16, at St. Raphael Quasi Parish in Kpando, during a Mass that followed a prayerful pilgrimage to the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Agbenorxoe, Kpando in the Volta Region of Ghana.

Drawing on the story of Moses and the burning bush, Fr. Quaye-Foli challenged the faithful to “remove their sandals,” a symbol, he explained, of letting go of spiritual pride, laziness, and indifference. “Holiness begins in ordinary places, not in temples or sanctuaries. If you cannot find holiness in your home, you will not find it in the church either.”

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He reminded the congregation that Moses was not shaped in Pharaoh’s palace, but in the desert — with sheep and silence. So too, he said, God forms missionaries not in comfort but through trials. “We must not be the generation that buries the mission. We must not be the generation that loses the fire.”

The Mass ended with a moving invocation: “May the Lord pour out His Spirit upon us again… the same Spirit that lived in the founder and the co-founders… May the Lord put the fire of the founder in our hearts. And may we carry not ashes, but fire.”

Watch the homily below

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Daily Reading

Friday of the Sixth week of Easter

Acts of the Apostles 18,9-18.

One night while Paul was in Corinth, the Lord... said to him in a vision , "Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent,
for I am with you. No one will attack and harm you, for I have many people in this city."
He settled there for a year and a half and taught the word of God among them.
But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews rose up together against Paul and brought him to the tribunal,
saying, "This man is inducing people to worship God contrary to the law."
When Paul was about to reply, Gallio spoke to the Jews, "If it were a matter of some crime or malicious fraud, I should with reason hear the complaint of you Jews;
but since it is a question of arguments over doctrine and titles and your own law, see to it yourselves. I do not wish to be a judge of such matters."
And he drove them away from the tribunal.
They all seized Sosthenes, the synagogue official, and beat him in full view of the tribunal. But none of this was of concern to Gallio.
Paul remained for quite some time, and after saying farewell to the brothers he sailed for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut because he had taken a vow.

Psalms 47(46),2-3.4-5.6-7.

All you peoples, clap your hands;
shout... to God with cries of gladness.
For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.

He brings people under us;
nations under our feet.
He chooses for us our inheritance,
the glory of Jacob, whom he loves.

God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;
the LORD, amid trumpet blasts.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our king, sing praise.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 16,20-23a.

Jesus said to his disciples: "Amen, amen, I... say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.
So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you."

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Go to Daily Readings

SVD family in Ghana-Liberia urged to carry founder’s fire at 150th anniversary pilgrimage

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