The vulture is a scavenging bird of prey that has dozen of African proverbs and euphemisms. Our elders draw many lessons from their strange lives and behaviour. Have you heard that the Akans say For example; “4Pete de ne kwaease p1 nyinky1” to wit “the vulture’s foolishness is a reason for its old age”. Again, “4kyena masi me dan nti na 4pata nni Piribuo” (it is out of procrastination, that the vulture cannot claim a befitting nest for itself). Anytime it rains heavily, the vulture begins to contemplate building a befitting nest.
Upon reading the directives of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference issued on 16th March 2020 on the pastoral approaches to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the analogy of the vulture comes to mind. I read the directive with keen interest. It recommended that, “where possible, live streaming of Masses should be encouraged to enable the faithful to receive spiritual communion”.
The million-dollar question is: how many people can access these online programmes? How many can afford it? How fast is the internet connectivity in our villages? How many parishes have the facilities to do online streaming? Our old men and women in the villages without proper phones and computers how do they partake in these online streaming.
With some few exemptions, the live Facebook and YouTube streaming currently on social media is nothing to write home about. Consequently, it will be difficult to give the spiritual communion the church is anticipating. Necessity, they say is the mother of invention. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We need Catholic TV now than before. I think this statement has to be made without being accused of a flat general statement or hasty inference. Catholic Television has been imperative especially in these challenging times in our country.
The cry of most Catholics that the church goes digital in her evangelization ministry has been echoed on several platforms seminars, symposia etc. Nevertheless, the response is either slow or recommendations are left on the bookshelves or tables. The evangelization ministry calls on us to adopt alternative ways to evangelization. Unfortunately, the directives from those seminars, group discussions and symposia are been left unattended and unimplemented.
It is a great worry when these one-man churches and juju men have television channels on multi-TV but the Catholic Church has no national television station or a channel. The challenging times of the coronavirus pandemic has made many churches sort refuge from their TV stations for evangelization.
It is embarrassing when you visit a homebound Catholic and find them watching channels that is inimical to the Catholic faith. Most of them have no options than to watch other stations, which either confuse or influence them. The quest for a Catholic television is not mere copying or just wanting to be like other churches, neither is it a needles competition and imitation of other churches, but rather, the need of the time calls for it. We must do the best for ourselves as Catholics.
Why has it been difficult to get a television station? Where did we get it wrong; what is preventing us? Is there any law forbidding the church from establishing her own television? If no, why have we not done one yet? If yes, why have some orthodox and Pentecostal churches, got their way around it but the Catholic Church cannot, or the PNDC unwritten restrictions are still scaring the church?
Thinking aloud, perhaps, we do not have such a national interest since each Bishop is autonomous and for that matter diocesan interest precede national interest. Is the GCBC ready to fund it or it will suffer the same fate, which befell Catholic Digest in 2004-2005? Unfortunately, Instead of mounting a national agenda, most dioceses are busy doing a diocesan YouTube channel or Facebook live streaming. Together we can stand better.
Permit me to interrogate more; is the universal Church against the establishment of television? I don’t think so. Because the Vatican media is one of the reliable and credible media firms in the world. Indeed, the Catholic Church is never naïve about the impact of Social media in evangelization. Therefore, the church in Ghana cannot be oblivious to the intrusive ubiquity of social media.
Where are the concerned Catholics? Where are the Papal Award winners? Where are the Catholic intellectuals, Where are the Catholic businessmen? Where are the Catholic media professionals? Where are the clergy? Where are the members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference?,
The onus lies on us all to facilitate this process because we have all the pastoral directives and documents. We have no options than to take a decision now to speed up the process if something is in the pipe or to take the various recommendations and implements them as soon as possible.
Source: Eno Mary, Accra
Disclaimer: The views/contents in this article are sole responsibility of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of Newswatchgh.com. Newswatchgh.com is therefore not liable or responsible for any inaccuracies contained in this article.”
Reproduction is authorised if permission is granted by Newswatchgh.com
