Bishop in Ghana Encourages Laity to Openly Profess Faith

Bishop in Ghana Encourages Laity to Openly Profess Faith

CANAA || By Damian Avevor, Ghana || 02 October 2017

The Bishop Chair for the Commission of Laity, Women and Youth in Ghana, Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD, has said that if all Catholic faithful in Ghana would not be ashamed of their faith but profess that they know the one in whom they have put their trust, then Ghana can be transformed into a better country.

“The witness of life and word demands that we march our words with our life so that what we say corresponds to what we do,” Bishop Fianu said in his address at the maiden Bishops Essuah/Sam/Darko Memorial Lectures at Star of the Sea Cathedral at Takoradi, Ghana.

His topic was: Living Our Vocation as Catholic Faithful.

“Our world today does not want teachers but models; people who take the lead and invite others to follow them instead of sitting in their comfort zones and pointing out the way to others without they themselves ever taking that way,” the Bishop continued.

Held on September 29 and 30, the lectures aimed at extolling the legacies of the first three Bishops of the Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese, Bishop Joseph Amihere Essuah, Bishop Charles Kweku Sam and Bishop John Martin Darko.

Bishop Essuah shepherded the Diocese from November 20, 1969 to October 7, 1980; Bishop Sam from September 30, 1981 to January 13, 1998 and Bishop Darko from June 27, 1998 to December 14, 2011.

Bishop Fianu, who is also the Local Ordinary of Ho Diocese in the Volta Region, urged Priests to empower the laity to take up their rightful place in the Christian Community or Parish since their activities in Ecclesial Communities or Parishes was important that Priests cannot be fully effective without them.

“The Church desperately needs the laity to carry out role with the authority, creativity, and power that the Holy Spirit has given them in Baptism,” he said.

He said because of Baptism and Confirmation, the laity have the right and duty to preach the Gospel to all. They are to do this either individually or grouped in associations, he added.

“Today, in Ghana, we see some people who stand at street corners, in buses, lorry parks, and other places to preach to others. There are some who occupy the airwaves for long hours. They do so because that is how they understand the command of Christ to preach the Gospel to all nations,” he noted.

Bishop Fianu, who is the Bishop of Ho, observed that many Catholics in Ghana today were interested in reading and studying the Bible, which according to him was reassuring to note the importance the Church in Ghana gives to the Bible Apostolate.