{"id":95484,"date":"2026-03-23T13:33:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/ghana-ritiro-quaresimale-annuale-della-custodia\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T13:35:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:35:57","slug":"ghana-ritiro-quaresimale-annuale-della-custodia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/ghana-ritiro-quaresimale-annuale-della-custodia\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana: Annual Lenten Custodial Retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>As is customary during Lent, the solemnly professed friars of the Provincial Custody of St. Anthony of Padua in Ghana gathered for their annual Lenten retreat at the St. Francis of Assisi Novitiate and Friary in Saltpond, Ghana.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A large number of solemnly professed friars attended. Four friars were excused due to ill health and apostolic commitments. The retreat began with Evening Prayer on March 16, 2026, and concluded with Evening Prayer on March 20.<br \/>\nThe retreat was led by Father and Doctor Michael MENSAH. He is a diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of Accra, Ghana, a biblical scholar, a chaplain, and a lecturer at the University of Ghana in the Legon area of Accra. The theme of the retreat was <em>\u201cJourneying Together in Prayer, Fraternity, and Mission.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\nUsing Sacred Scripture and practical examples, Father Michael guided the friars in reflecting on the three central pillars of the theme, namely, Prayer, Fraternity, and Mission. He encouraged the friars to do their best in their vocation, regardless of the challenges they may encounter.<br \/>\nThe five-day retreat gave the friars a chance to step away from their apostolic responsibilities, renew their relationship with God, deepen their fraternal bonds, and find rest in the serene environment of the Franciscan Valley of Prayer and Silence.<br \/>\nAt the conclusion of the retreat, the Vicar Custos, Friar Emmanuel Kofi OCRAN, thanked the facilitator for guiding the friars throughout the entire five-day experience. The Custos, Friar Vitus Edem Yao MENSAH, then addressed the friars and updated them on the final preparations for the upcoming Ordinary Custodial Chapter. He encouraged them to continue doing their best to help the Custody grow. On March 20, most of the friars from nearby communities departed for their respective fraternities. Those who could not travel that evening left the following morning.<br \/>\nThe Custody thanks all of the friars who participated, and in particular, the Continuing Formation Commission for organizing the retreat, and the facilitator, Father Michael MENSAH.<br \/>\nMay St. Francis of Assisi continue to intercede for us all. Amen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Friar Francis Pascal AFFUM, Custodial Secretary<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As is customary during Lent, the solemnly professed friars of the Provincial Custody of St. Anthony of Padua in Ghana gathered for their annual Lenten retreat at the St. Francis of Assisi Novitiate and Friary in Saltpond, Ghana. A large number of solemnly professed friars attended. Four friars were excused due to ill health and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,132,148],"tags":[520,1135],"class_list":["post-95484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afcof-en","category-federations","category-news","tag-ghana-en","tag-spiritual-retreat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95487,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95484\/revisions\/95487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}