My dear Brothers and Sisters,
Two events in the recent past have motivated the subject matter of my letter to you this month. The first concerns a Brother who was ill and needed an urgent surgery to save his life. The cost of the surgery was so prohibitive that his family appealed to the Supreme Council for help. The second concerns another Brother who lost his house and all the property in it through fire. His Council wrote to the Supreme Council for help. In both cases, some help which could at best be described as token was given.
The two events cited above, are only examples of the many requests for help that frequently come to the Supreme Council and I believe, also to Councils and Courts from distressed Brothers and Sisters, the Church and other institutions. As far as Brothers and Sisters are concerned, I believe it is generally not easy for them or their families to make public their request for financial help. So when they muster courage to make the request, they do so fully confident that they will not be let down by their Brothers and Sisters. But what do we see? Many such requests either go unheeded or in a lukewarm fashion, “hats” are passed around at meetings yielding amounts that are anything but significant in comparison to the actual need.
At the level of the Supreme Council, sometimes a token donation is made in response to such request due to lack of funds. In other instances, letters are written from the secretariat to all Councils and Courts for support. Unfortunately, such letters are often ignored or some pittance sent in response. To avoid such situations which impact negatively on our image, many attempts have been made over the years to set up various investment Funds which if all were to contribute to, would yield significant dividends making it unnecessary to go to Marshallans each time a request is received to do charity either within or outside the Order. Sadly, these initiatives have often been greeted with such huge barriers of reluctance that one is left wondering what has happened to the “Spirit of Charity” espoused in our motto.
In many Councils and Courts, very few members regularly contribute to initiatives towards projects and charitable causes. The rest sit aloof, complain or gossip about those who make contributions, discouraging them in the process.
It is now more than 22 years since the “Christus Regneth” fund was instituted by the Noble Order to support the two major Seminaries in Ghana, St Peters in Cape Coast and St. Victors in Tamale. Every year, Marshallans are reminded to contribute to this fund yet there are some Councils and Courts in Ghana, who couldn’t be bothered about contributing to it.
One of our cardinal aims is to support the Catholic Church in its evangelisation mission. Based on a discussion held with the Most Rev. Charles Palmer Buckle after the Marshallan Re-Union Conference last year, I launched a campaign for Marshallans to support the “The Catholic Digest”, a Catholic evangelisation programme on Ghana Television. I proposed that each Marshallan in Ghana and London contributes GH?1 per month for the purpose. The proposal met with so much criticism that I felt both sorry for making it and wondered whether we truly knew what we are about in terms of our role in evangelisation. Very few Councils and Courts responded to the appeal. I wish to use this medium to thank them and to inform them that arrangements are underway to present whatever has been collected, during the September Supreme Council meeting in the name of the Noble Order.
The above observations lead me to conclude that the spirit of charity which used to be so expressive among Marshallans in the past is fast is waning. The question is why? Are we suffering from the “what is in it for me” syndrome? Interestingly, it is not only in the area of giving money that our spirit of charity is waning. It is seen in the way we speak about Brothers and Sisters behind their backs; it is seen in the way we stop visiting members who get sick beyond six months; it is seen in the way we quickly forget the widows and widowers of our deceased members almost as soon as they (members) are buried.
Please, let each do an examination of conscience on these matters as we remind ourselves of this noble virtue of charity in our motto. Let the spirit of charity be revived and become so alive in us that we cannot but demonstrate it practically whenever the need arises. Being charitable in thought, word and deed is a Christian duty, let us wake up to it. Above all, let us trust in the promise of the Lord to reward abundantly, those who give cheerfully, their time, money and energies to His work. The God we serve is faithful, He keeps His promises!
Yours fraternally,
SIR KT BRO EDDIE PRAH
(SUPREME KNIGHT)