Ghanaian Bishop Launches Book on Liturgy, Proceeds to Help Needy Children

CANAA || By Damian Avevor, Ghana || 10 March 2016

Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu of Konongo-Mampong Diocese in Ghana has launched his fifth Book on Understanding the Mass: Historical, Biblical, Theological and Liturgical Perspectives.

The launching took place at the British Council in Ghana’s capital, Accra on Tuesday, March 8.

Explaining the essence for the Book, Bishop Osei-Bonsu said it throws more light on the Historical, Biblical, Theological and Liturgical insights of the Mass.

He stated that even though the Mass was celebrated in many places in the local people’s language, it was not fully understood by many people partly because it is a rite with over two thousand years of history behind it and contains elements with origins in Jewish, Greek, Roman and other ancient cultures.

Bishop Osei-Bonsu who is also the President of Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) said further explained that there are many aspects of the Mass that Catholics and non-Catholics may not understand or puzzle them including the sprinkling of water, the use of incense and candles, making of the sign of the cross, bowing, kneeling, and genuflecting among others, all explained in the book.

He went on to say that many might not know the history behind the prayer said during Mass or of the Vestments and Vessels used, noting that, the book also seeks to correct some mistaken practices among the Priests which were not in the liturgical norms.

The Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Archbishop Jean-Marie Speich, who was the Guest of Honour at the launch called on prelates to ensure unity and harmony in liturgical celebrations in their territories, adding that local ordinaries need to ensure that the clergy and the lay faithful grasp the genuine meaning of the liturgical texts and be led to an active and fruitful celebration of the Eucharist.

He urged bishops and priests to consider the celebration of the liturgy as their principal duty saying, “While it is true that the whole people of God participate in the Eucharistic liturgy, a correct ars celebrandi necessarily entails a specific responsibility on the part of those who receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders.”

“I was impressed by the quality and the abundance of the footnotes. I find it very good that you chose, as a Bishop, a Biblist and Exegete, the Eucharist thematic knowing that this Sacrament, in the Catholic Church, is the centre of God’s celebration and perfect thanksgiving,” the Nuncio remarked with reference to the theme and content of the book.

The launch was chaired by Archbishop Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle of Accra.

The book is dedicated to the Clergy, Religious, and Laity of the Konongo-Mampong Diocese on the 20^th Anniversary of the Diocese and the Episcopate of Bishop Osei-Bonsu, with the foreword by Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace at the Vatican.

Proceeds from the Book will assist the Orthopaedic and Children’s Wards of the Pope St. John Paul II Centre at Jamasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.