“Do not be frightened by crosses”: Catholic Bishop at 75th Anniversary of Legion of Mary in Ivory Coast

Abidjan, 08 September, 2025 / 9:00 PM

Bishop Raymond Ahoua of the Catholic Diocese of Grand-Bassam in Ivory Coast has invited members of the Legion of Mary, known as Patricians, to be, like the Blessed Virgin Mary, disciples of Jesus amid challenges in the West African nation.

In his homily during the closing Mass of the 75th Anniversary of the Legion of Mary in Ivory Coast, Bishop Ahoua urged members of the Catholic action movement to face challenges that come their way as true disciples of Christ.

“Do not be frightened by crosses. Do not sink into doubts, prophets of doom. Listen to the Gospel! Listen to the Pope who speaks to you of hope,” the Ivorian Catholic Bishop said during the September 7 Eucharistic celebration at Holy Spirit Parish of Grand-Bassam Diocese.

He went on to exhort the people of God to look to the future with hope and faith.

“Hope, have faith and look to the future with a smile. The world belongs to God. Not to one leader or to leaders, but to God who created it. God will therefore take care of you and your future,” Bishop Ahoua said.

For the Ivorian member of the Congregation of the Sons of Divine Providence (FDP, Don Orione Fathers), it is in hope and faith in Christ that one knows they are true disciples, because “to be a disciple is to let oneself be guided.”

“To be a disciple, one must believe in the person one wants to follow; in the commitment one makes to follow this person from beginning to end. The true disciple commits from beginning to end, in fidelity. Despite all hardships, the disciple walks faithfully in the footsteps of Christ,” he said.

The Catholic Church leader urged Patricians to resolutely turn toward the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first disciple of Christ, just as the missionaries and Attobra François Kacou, who led the first presidium of the Legion of Mary in the Ivory Coast in 1950, had done.

“Everything the first missionaries did, the path they traced before you, follow that path. Because whether it was Bishop Attobra or the missionaries, they all tried to follow as best they could the footsteps of the Virgin Mary, as a model of faith, as a model disciple of Jesus Christ, always carrying, and above all, each day, their cross,” he said.

The year-long jubilee celebration was held under the theme: “After 75 years, together to rebuild the Legion of Mary.”

Taking stock of the jubilee in an interview with ACI Africa, the President of the Superior Council of the Legion of Mary in Ivory Coast, Mathieu Kangah, reflected about the future.

“We have finished the 75 years, now we must think of the future, that is, to chart new guidelines for the renewal of the Legion of Mary, so that the movement may always be strong and always be the pride of the Catholic Church in Ivory Coast,” Mr. Kangah told ACI Africa on September 7.

For the Spiritual Director of the Legion of Mary in the Ivory Coast, Fr. Aimé Dépli, achieving this goal requires returning to the fundamentals of the movement.

Fr. Dépli told ACI Africa, “To rebuild the Legion of Mary, we must turn to our Legionary manual, which provides all the guidelines for the movement to be effective.”

The guidelines, he went on to say during the September 7 interview, “will allow us to meet the challenges now before us: overcoming the laziness that afflicts legionaries, and the challenge of building the national headquarters of the Legion of Mary.”

The Legion of Mary was introduced in the Ivory Coast in July 1950 by Fr. Rose of the Society of African Missions (SMA) at St. Francis Xavier Aboisso Parish of Grand-Bassam Diocese.