Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, His Eminence Ivan Cardinal Dias, recently completed an 11-day visit to Ghana during which he met high-profile personalities including President John Agyekum Kufuor and Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene.
Cardinal Dias, Special Envoy of Pope Benedict XVI to the Climax of the Centenary celebrations of Evangelisation in Northern Ghana, no doubt must have seen some remarkable changes in the mission and in the growth of the Catholic Church in particular.
Said Cardinal Dias: we are indeed, witnessing a “miracle of grace,” in Ghana, for which we must raise an ever joyful hymn of praise – like the Magnificat of Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our own – thanking God for His marvelous needs all throughout the history of the Church in Ghana, and in the Tamale Ecclesiastical Province during the past ten decades, in particular.
Programme lined up for him by the Apostolic Nunciature and the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference included visits to Navrongo-Bolgatanga, Tamale, Sunyani, Kumasi, Cape Coast Accra and Kpando – some of the places he might have known when he was the Pro-Nuncio to Ghana twenty-five years ago.
Some of the highlights of his programme were visits to St. Paul’s Philosophy Seminary in Accra; interaction with Seminary community at St. Peter’s Regional Seminary, Pedu, Cape Coast, visit to St. Victor’s Major Seminary at Tamale and last but not the least, laying the foundation stone of the Resource Centre of the Catholic University College of Ghana at Fiapre-Sunyani.
The Standard is grateful to the Holy Father for assigning Cardinal Dias as his Special Envoy to the climax of the Centenary a duty which he performed creditably.
Cardinal Dias’ acknowledgement at the Mass of the first three pioneering Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) – Fr. Jean-Marie Chollet, Fr. Oscar Morin and Brother Eugene Gall – who came to Navrongo from Upper Volta, now, Burkina Faso, in 1906, to evangelise the people, would definitely gladden the hearts of present day Missionaries, who are working tirelessly in Ghana and other places, to work harder.
He also remembered those who died even violently, while carrying out their noble mission of preaching the Good News.
Since Ghana is still in the Jubilee Year and mood, The Standard re-echoes the advice by Cardinal Dias to the faithful at the Holy Mass to commemorate the Centenary.
Since every jubilee is a propitious occasion, they should look at the past with gratitude; the present with joy and to the future with hope.
The Standard congratulates the early Missionaries and the other pioneers for their indomitable spirit in the Evangelisation of the North.
We recall that the Diocese of Tamale was operated at as a Suffragan of the Archdiocese of Cape Coast in 1950. Ever since, it had so progressed that today, we have an Ecclesiastical Province of Tamale with five Dioceses, headed by indigenous Bishops.
The Standard is encouraged by the statement that “thanks to the glorious past, the Church in Northern Ghana presents a very consoling picture today, even when considered within broader framework of the whole Catholic scenario in the country.”
On challenges, Cardinal Dias advised the Church in Ghana to remember the many people and persons in the country who have not yet received the good News of Jesus Christ.
We congratulate the Tamale Ecclesiastical Province for its Centenary celebrations and also thank the Holy Father for sending Cardinal Dias as his Special Envoy to Ghana.
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