Ivory Coast is currently very agitated in the run-up to the presidential elections, but the desire to be welcomed in the Catholic faith remains strong.
The 64 newly baptized university students pose with their Viatorian catechists.
After three years of preparation – catechetical work involving several Viatorians – some 64 students from the University of Abidjan were baptized and received their First Communion on September 20.
“It was a very moving celebration,” said Father Carlos Orduna, CSV, “the crowning of a long three-year preparation process.”
Together with Br. Amani Darius, the first person in charge of the Scholasticate, Fr. Orduna participates with other Viatorians in the formation process within the community of the Scholasticate in Abidjan.
Some of the Viatorian Scholasticates after a Mass celebrated by Fr. François Koffi, CSV, Superior of the Viatorians of Ivory Coast.
This Viatorian community is composed of 12 religious and eight associates. Several of them are involved in university catechesis. To this end, they meet with the students once a week at the parish of St. Albert the Great, which is located near the university. Some of these Viatorians teach at St. Viateur College in Abidjan, while others, like Fr, Orduna, teach at the university. Still others are students.
The Viatorians of the Scholasticate live in a neighborhood close to the university. Since their arrival in Abidjan at the end of the 1980s, they have been sent by the Archbishop as collaborators of this parish team, working in liturgy and university catechesis.
“A common factor for all of us is to be involved in catechesis, either in the university parish or in other parishes in the city,” adds Father Orduna. “It is truly a Viatorian work.”