Installation news and pictures

NEW ABBOT FOR THE CISTERCIAN ABBEY MBENGWI

On Tuesday the 6^th of August 2007, Dom Charles Arde-Erzoa Amihere was elected as the new Abbot of the Cistercian Abbey Mbengwi. He takes over from Dom Jude Tah Forcham who ended a six year term of office on the same day. The elections were conducted by Dom Joseph Delargy, Abbot of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey Leicester England, assisted by Mother Margaret, Abbess emeritus of St Justina's Monastery Abaikiliki in Nigeria.

The Installation of Dom Charles took place on the same day in the Chapter Room of the Monastery.

In installing Dom Charles Dom Joseph congratulated the community for its maturity in electing an African Abbot in place of another African. This he said, was a sign of the progress the monastic life is making in Africa. He also congratulated Dom Jude for what he has done to the Abbey in the past six years. He said the successful election of a new Abbot was the sign of a successful Abbacy of Dom Jude. He finally congratulated Dom Charles for his election and called on the community to give him the necessary support to govern well. The new Abbot then made the profession of faith, pledging to follow the mind of the church in the administration of the Monastery. He was then given a pectoral cross, the keys and seals of the Monastery, to take up command of the affairs of the Monastery. Then he took the Abbatial Chair in Chapter and all the professed monks of the Monastery in order of seniority came up and knelt before him and pledged obedience. The documents of the installation were then signed and the community moved to church where Dom Charles took the Abbatial stall and the Te Deum was sung to praise God for the success of the election. The Abbatial blessing to be done by the Archbishop of Bamenda will be done later.

Dom Charles was born on 17^th April 1950 in Ghana. He did his secondary and high school education in Ghana between 1966-1973 when he proceeded to St Peter's Regional Major Seminary at Pedu, Cape-Coast Ghana where he did philosophy and 2 years of theology. In 1976 he came into contact with monks on a visit to Togo and desired being one himself. Since there were no monasteries in Ghana, he applied and was accepted to join Newark Abbey in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. When he was preparing to travel to the U.S. he met a Ghanaian priest who was starting a monastic project in Ghana. Br Charles joined the new diocesan monastic foundation in 1978. In1979 he was sent to Bamenda for monastic formation to return home to Ghana to help in establishing their own Monastery. In 1981, he made first profession and went back to Ghana in 1984. The monastic project in Ghana was not successful and so in 1988, Br Charles decided to return to Cameroon to join the Cistercian Monastery in Mbengwi. He had to start afresh the monastic journey he began 10 years earlier with another canonical novitiate in September 1988. After the second novitiate, he took his temporary vows in October 1989 and final vows in February 1993, and was ordained priest in 2001 by Archbishop Paul Verdzekov.

In 1996, Dom Charles was appointed Assistant Novice Master and subsequently went for a course at the Catholic University of Angers in France in 1997. On his return from studies, he was appointed Superior Ad nutum of the Cistercian Monastery at Koutaba. In 1999 he returned to Bamenda to assume the same responsibility, a position he held until 2001. At the Cistercian Order's General Chapter of 2002 he was elected Councilor at the Abbot General's Council in Rome where he was till his election on the 6^th of August as Abbot of the Cistercian Monastery Mbengwi.

We ask you to keep him and the community in your prayers.

Br Luke-Kingsley Ake

Hi friends,

In June my family, only five of us, had a mini family reunion. Three of my five sisters spent two weeks in the Guest House, here in Nunraw, where my brother Donald is Guest Master. They arrived a few days after the failed terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport. All airports were on high security alert. Hence Noreen and Josephine were delayed at Dublin Airport for about three hours, one of them sitting in the plane, before they obtained the 'All clear' from Edinburgh. Before this Patricia arrived from Aberdeen also one hour late because she got the wrong coach. By then it was too late to have supper at Nunraw so we had our first meal together at a quiet resturant just outside Edinburgh. As we chatted we enjoyed the drive through the beautiful Lothian countryside, aglow with the warm evening sun.. Our absent sisters were Mary who teaches English to the young Sisters in South Korea, and Christina who does parish work with the Aboriginese in Australia.

5th July: The five of us set off for Carfin, Scotland's National Shrine to Our Lady. It is not far from Glasgow on the Edinburgh road.It has been transformed into a very wonderful shrine. Our mother often visited it with members of the family. The cost of enhancement was shared by church and private contributions, Irish, Polish, Ukrainian etc., as well as from government developement agencies.

The Blessed Sacrament Chapel is built almost entirely of glass, very beautiful and most prayerful. The Chapel is dedicated to Our Lady, Maid of the Sea. This title is the name of the passenger aircraft that crashed, near Locherbie not far from Carfin, due to a terrorist bomb. A list of the victims, (R.I.P.), hangs on the wall.

By way of exception, since it is only open on Sundays, we were allowed to view the fantastic display of relics in the Relics Museum.

In the afternoon we visited Donald's friends at Wellwood, not far from here. Beatrice (in the photo) and her sister, Claude, from Oregon, USA. Originally they came from a large family in Belgium. Coming from Cameroon they were disappointed that I did not speak French. We enjoyed a nice afternoon tea together complete with Belgian cookies. Beatrice, now an eighty-year old widow, is still full of energy in spite of two strokes and is rather deaf. She is a member of the landed gentry and has a large estate/farm. She drives herself here to Mass every Sunday. Her husband used to accompany her though he remained an Anglican.

My very pleasant surprise was to meet up with Claude. When she said she was from Oregon I could scarcely believe my ears. I was even more surprised when she said that the 'Oregon Grape', ornamental and herbal shrub, grows in her garden. The scientific name is 'Mahonia Aquifolium'. The bark of the root is used to make ointment for skin disorders. It is most effective for psoriasis. When I looked up the Internet for the seeds it said that they were out of stock. More surprisingly still I discovered that Beatrice had it growing in her garden and estate, all ready for harvesting. So I now have a supply of the seeds. I had to be quick because the birds love the grapes. The shrub will be a useful addition to our herb garden. We run a small Herbal Clinic in Bamenda, Cameroon, where many people suffer from psoriasis. There are no specific drugs for psoriasis in West Africa. The preparations, ointment and tablets etc., are only available on the Internet. Even if you have a credit card it is not easy to import any item due to risk of theft and high customs duty.

11th: Our cousin, Brian Sweeney and his wife, Kathy. were with us for lunch and afternoon tea. He had polio as a small boy.They are always most inspiring in the way he copes with his disability with the help of Kathy. They are a perfect, loving team. He is now a qualified Consulant for the disabled and gives lectures at the University and Medical schools. He is a living example of what he preaches. He is a great advocate for the rights of the disabled. He is a great entertainer. He arrived in his big Mercedes custom built car. I think he got it at a special rate. The fittings and gadgets were supplied free of charge. He drives up to the car in his power driven wheel-chair. Using his handset he opens a door and a platform drops to the ground. He reverses into it, the platform rises and he enters the cabin, wheels round and hops into the driver's seat. Coming out of the car the procedure is reversed. He does most of the driving himself though Kathy drives from time to time.