Catholic Bishops of Ghana Discuss Pastoral Challenges of the Family

CANAA || By Damian Avevor, Ghana || 13 November, 2014

Members of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference converged in Accra for their annual Plenary Assembly to discuss and deliberate on the Pastoral Challenges of the family.

The theme for the 10-day Assembly attended by all the Catholic Bishops of Ghana was The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of the New Evangelisation.

The President of Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC), Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu at the opening of the Plenary on Monday, November 10^th said the theme was chosen to deliberate on the best pastoral approach to adopt as a local Church to handle the numerous challenges faced by the family in the context of Ghana in particular and Africa in general.

He said the Assembly would examine the meaning of the family as the vital building block of society and the Ecclesiastical community; the role of the family as the sanctuary where life is born, nurtured and welcomed as a gift and as a community of life and love and the role that the family could play in the New Evangelization as a place where the Gospel was transmitted and from which it could radiate.

Bishop Osei-Bonsu said the family which plays a vital role in the Church and society was undergoing crises, which needed urgent attention, noting that urban economic pressures, financial burdens, marital infidelity, sexual promiscuity and the secular philosophy of relativism were some of the challenges putting the stability of society at risk.

“It is therefore urgent as part of our Christian duty that we engage in a more careful pastoral reflection on the family to let the understanding of it influence whatever decision they take regarding the family,” Bishop Osei-Bonsu said.

The GCBC President noted that at the recently-concluded Synod of Bishops on the Family in Rome, which he attended, the Synod Fathers discussed the meaning of family today, the values of the family, the challenges of marriage and family life and the Church’s response to issues of family and marriage in contemporary society.

“The Synod affirmed that the traditional teachings of the Church on the family as contained in Scripture and in the Church’s Magisterium, should be upheld at all times so that the family can continue its role as the vital cell of society while playing a useful role in the Church’s New Evangelisation”, he said.

Bishop Osei-Bonsu was hopeful that the GCBC’s reflections on the theme would help address the questions of the faithful regarding indissolubility of marriage, the prohibition on the use of artificial contraceptives, cohabitation, divorce and re-marriage and the Sacraments.

“At the end of our Conference, we hope to come out with concrete and practical recommendations on how the Church and the Ghanaian society as a whole can resolve the problems surrounding family and marriage so that the family can play its role as intended by God – the source of all life”, he said.

The Bishops were also to discuss and approve the pastoral guidelines drafted from the talks, discussions, reports and recommendations of the recent Second National Pastoral Congress held at Sunyani in August this year for implementation in all Arch/Dioceses.

Also present at the official opening of the Bishops’ Plenary Assembly were Most Rev. Jean-Marie Speich, Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana who was a Special Guest, Most Rev. Peter K. Sarpong and Most Rev. Thomas Mensah, Emeriti Archbishops of Kumasi.

Other dignitaries included Dr. Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana; Alhaji Maulvi Mohammed Bin Salih, Ameer and Missionary-in-Charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana; Apostle Samuel Antwi, General Secretary of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, among others.