Catholic clergy brainstorm on future of church in WA
About 150 Catholic Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals from the West African sub-region have begun a week’s meeting in Accra to brainstorm on the future development of the church in West Africa.
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This is the second plenary assembly of the grouping referred to as the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA-CERAO).
It is an amalgamation of the Association of the Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa (AECAWA) and the Francophone Conférence Episcopale Régionale de l’Afrique de L’ouest (CERAO).
The group also includes those from Portuguese-speaking countries within the sub-region.
The theme for the plenary assembly is: “The New Evangelisation and the Specific Challenges for the Church, Family of God in West Africa: Reconciliation, Development, Family Life”.
Reconciliation
Addressing a news conference in Accra Monday, the President of RECOWA-CERAO, His Eminence Theodore Adrien Cardinal Sarr, told journalists that reconciliation had become a very difficult subject in the sub-region, leading to needless fragmentations within societies.
Such developments, he said, tended to stifle the peace and development of the family of God and required much deliberation in order to find a way forward.
He said the group would continue to play its role in restoring peace and calm to the troubled areas of the sub-region by raising its prophetic voice in reasoning together with the parties involved in conflicts.
Cardinal Sarr, who spoke in French, said the gathering would also discuss the issue of terrorism within the sub-region.
Same-sex marriage
On same-sex marriage, he said it was unfortunate that the advanced world, especially the United States, had arrogated to itself the power to think for the rest of the world.
Cardinal Sarr said it was instructive to note that in Africa, countries were guided by customs, traditions and practices that frowned on same-sex marriage or relationships.
Such a practice, he said, did not fall within the natural and divine laws of God and ought to be condemned in no uncertain terms.
He warned against Africans allowing themselves to be adversely affected by the negative practices of the West and prayed that the Word of God would bring illumination to the thoughts and actions of the people of Africa.
Free, fair polls
For his part, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, the Most Reverend Gabriel Charles Palmer Buckle, said the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church had been involved in elections in Ghana since 1992 and because of the experiences of its members, they were poised to ensure free and fair elections.
“We are poised to ensure that the 2016 elections are free, fair and devoid of anything untoward,” he stressed.