President John Dramani Mahama has assured the Catholic Church that government would continue to look up to the Church for inspiration, leadership by example and prayerful support.
The President said this in a speech read for him by Mr. John Henry Martey Newman, Member of the Council of State and former Chief of Staff at the opening ceremony of the Second Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA) last Tuesday, February 23 at the M Plaza Hotel in Accra.
The theme for the eight-day Assembly is The New Evangelization and the Specific Challenges for the Church, Family of God in West Africa: Reconciliation, Development, Family Life.
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The opening was chaired by Prof. Gilbert D. D. Kuupole, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast. President Mahama described Ghana as a peaceful country where religious tolerance was the hallmark and hospitality as way of life.
He said that the current and previous governments had enjoyed good working relationships with all religious groups and have collaborated with them in the areas of education, health and social development for the benefit of the people.
He commended the Catholic Church in West Africa for showing that cultural barriers and linguistic strangleholds could be broken if the people apply firmly to the difficult task of achieving unity
President Mahama asked the Catholic Church to continue to let the social teachings of the Church penetrate and influence government policy, saying that this could only be possible “when those of us who are called Christians live without reproach, above the worldly trappings of the present age.”
President Mahama called on Christians to be prepare themselves for the immense duty of nation building, noting that “In Ghana, West Africa and Africa, we are all face with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations,” he added.
The President said the theme of the Assembly appropriate to the developmental need of the people, noting that the formation of RECOWA-CERAO had immense relevance for all in the West African Sub-Region.
He lamented that countries, tribes, clans and communities take up arms against their own kin and kith, saying that when this happens, development is seriously impaired and family life painfully disrupted.
“Many parts of Africa and the world at large have countless heart-rending tales to tell of shattered development plans and broken homes, all because citizens failed to forgive and forget when it mattered most,” he added.
He also commended RECOWA for organising the Plenary Assembly by bringing all West African Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops together, which was a blessing to Ghana.
In an address the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Most Rev Jean Marie Speich said it was the mission of the Church to promote transformation not by lobbying or electoral strategy but by inviting people into relationship with Christ whose preferential love was for the poor.
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Adding, he said “We not consider only the poor without money or power but the poor who is far from God and far from his neighbour, his brother or sister.
He said that the Church was a unique place of hope, noting that “a Catholic was a thrower of walls of division, a bridge building and a sower of hope.”
The Nuncio said a Catholic was a universal brother, sister because of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, stressing that human families were beautifully made by God.
In a welcome on behalf of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, its President, Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, thanked God for the grace and blessings bestowed on RECOWA-CERAO in the past years and what the Lord would use this Conference to achieve in the future.
He asked that the Catholic Cardinals and Arch/Bishops, from across West Africa, should reflect on how “we can work together as one united family and in concert with our West African Governments to advance the issues of reconciliation, holistic development and authentic family life within our Sub-Region in the light of the Church’s New Evangelization, which invites the Church to employ new and dynamic ways of spreading the Gospel message.”
“Our hope and prayer is that the outcome of our deliberations and reflections, which we will make public through a communiqué to be issued at the end of our meeting, will be of benefit to the people we serve, particularly in the Church and society in West Africa.
He said “recognising that the Church did not have the technical solutions to all the problems that our people face but being mindful of our God-given mission to bring the good news to all people, we hope to continue to work in close collaboration with Governments in West Africa and other stakeholders to bring the needed support to the people we are called to serve.”
“In doing this, we are guided by the words of our retired Holy Father, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, that “The Church in Africa must help to build up society in cooperation with government authorities and public and private institutions that are engaged in building up the common good” (Africae Munus, 81). It is the hope of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Catholic Church in Ghana that this Plenary Assembly will be a great success.”
Prof. Kuupole lamented that parents do not recognise their children while the children do same, encouraging Catholics to lead by what they taught.
He asked Catholics to support the Church in its evangelisation drive, and imbibe the value of the teachings of the Church in the people, bemoaning people who have replaced God with material things, decrying the proliferation of Churches.
