Bishop Benoît Alowonou, of the Diocese of Kpalimé in Togo, has told a gathering of diocesan clergy celebrating the association’s golden jubilee that diocesan priests of Togo have gone through happy and challenging times.
Recowa-Cerao – Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire
Bishop Alowonou was speaking at the Pope Saint John Paul II Major Seminary in Togo’s capital, Lome, the venue of the golden jubilee celebrations. The theme of the festivities was, ”Achievements and Challenges of the Fraternidade de Sacerdotes Diocesanos do Togo (FPDT) 50 Years after.”
Priests gather to pray together
“The most important thing is that after fifty years of progress, the language of fraternity still gathers the diocesan priests in an annual assembly to pray together and to deliver the hand of the Lord,” said the Togolese prelate, Bishop Alowonou.
Priestly encounters are also an instrument of evangelization
Founded in 1970, FPDT brings together more than 400 priests from the seven dioceses of the West African country in an annual general assembly.
“The fraternity of priests is not only a gathering, but it is also our vocation as priests (and) ministers of Sacraments,” the Local Ordinary of Togo’s Kpalimé diocese said, further describing the annual encounters as “an instrument of work and evangelization.”
No priest can carry out the mission in isolation
FPDT seeks to respond to the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council, reminding the clergy of the need to be intimately bound together in sacramental fraternity by virtue of their ordination to the priesthood.
In this regard, no priest can carry out his mission in isolation; one cannot do without joining forces with fellow priests.
