Support for the Benedictine sisters in Parakou
The Benedictine convent of Notre-Dame de l’Écoute was founded in 2005 in the Diocese of Natitingou, in the north of Benin. Originally, all the sisters were from France, but there are now also African sisters, and there are more young women from Benin interested in sharing the Benedictine life.
In 2022, however, the sisters had to leave their monastery because its location closer to Burkina Faso, where jihadists were active, presented more risk. The situation had become too dangerous, and so the Benedictine sisters were transferred to the Archdiocese of Parakou, further to the south, where it is safer. Shortly before moving, the sisters had accepted another young African woman into their congregation, and in February 2022, she was already helping them to pack all their belongings into boxes and then unpack them in their new home. Shortly afterwards, she formally entered the novitiate.
Whereas the original convent was situated in a remote area in the bush country, the house they are now living in is right in the middle of a big and bustling city. Sister Anne Elisabeth believes that this was the work of Divine Providence. “The Lord has now sent us to the heart of the city of Parakou, right in the pastoral centre of the diocese and close to the inter-diocesan minor seminary of Notre Dame de Fatima. Here in the heart of this dynamic African city, where many different social and religious realities are intermingled, we recognize the challenge to our mission of intercessory prayer. In this way, God is showing us still more clearly than before the urgent necessity of praying for the whole world, but especially and in particular for the country that has welcomed us, for our diocese and the local Church, and in particular for its priests and seminarians.”
Sister Anne Elisabeth continues: “The situation in the city enables us to be more visible and makes it easier for the Catholic faithful to discover our liturgy. We know how greatly the people of today, whether Christian or not, long to pause from time to time, even in the midst of a very active day, to seek the Lord in the midst of their tribulation and confide their joys and sorrows to Him. Just last week, for example, a young man came here with his fiancée, to a place where time seems to stand still, in order to reflect on their future life together.”
Their current situation in the heart of the city of Parakou offers the Benedictine sisters the opportunity to bring the Benedictine life closer to young people in a simple way. For example, the sisters now hold retreat days for young women. And sometimes there are seemingly chance encounters, “through which the Lord is showing us that He himself is at work,” Sister Anne Elisabeth explains. Recently, a young woman happened to chance past the convent doors, pushing a wheelbarrow full of herbs; now she wants to become a Benedictine nun.
The sisters’ original convent had a fruit and vegetable garden, land on which they were able to raise livestock, a host baking machine, an apiary, and a guesthouse, all of which helped to support their life and apostolate. But here in their new location, they have had to start over from scratch. We would therefore like to help them with subsistence aid in the amount of $28,000.
