The Paramount Chief of Buipe Traditional Area and Vice President of the Savannah Regional House of Chiefs, His Royal Majesty Buipewura Jinapor II has lauded the contribution of the Damongo Catholic Diocese and all parishes for the role play so far in the growth and development of the Buipe traditional area, located in the Central Gonja district of the Savannah region.
…”the contribution of the Catholic church can be seen in the areas of education, health, water and sanitation, human development, spiritual readiness, human cohesion and flexible interaction as well as creating space for inter connectivity”.
Buipewura Jinapor II said the church is recognized and applauded for it’s spirituality as well as the focus of human centeredness and therefore, encouraged the church to continue to build capacities and also continue to bring development to the doorsteps of the people of Buipe.
The leader of the Buipe traditional area explained that the Savannah Regional House of Chiefs in their last meeting declared 2022 as a year of action and development and urged the Bishop of Damongo Diocese and his team to incorporate the vision of the House of Chiefs into the church’s 2022 action plan.
On personal level, he said he deeply dines with the Catholic church and ready to support the church’s development plan and the Buipe traditional area to grow from strength to strength.
He explained that although he is a traditional leader, he dines with the church because his marriage was blessed at the St. Anne’s Cathedral church in Damongo and the Jinapor family members are strong Catholics and have keen interest in the affairs of the Catholic Church. He appealed to the church to groom more natives of Gonjaland to develop interest with it’s spiritual and development activities.
Buipewura Jinapor II said this on Sunday, 2nd January, 2022, at Buipe at the Queen of Peace Parish whiles addressing hundreds of parishioners during the climax of the 25th anniversary of the Queen of Peace Parish under the theme; “25 years of divine providence”.
Jinapor II said historically, the Catholic church is one of first to arrived in Ghana and the first in both Northern and the Savannah regions and one of the pioneering churches in the Buipe traditional area.
The relationship between the traditional authorities and the church is long standing and mutually beneficial to all and this relationship over the years has seen unique achievement for the people of Buipe and it’s environs.
The Bishop for the Damongo Diocese, Most Rev. Peter Paul Angkyier commended Buipewura Jinapor II and all traditional leaders in the region for their support towards the church’s evangelization and mentioned that the traditional people come first when it comes to collaborating with the church in their evangelical work and the Catholics can not establish a church anywhere without acquiring land which is often offered them by the traditional rulers.
Most Rev. Peter Paul Angkyier explained that, the Catholic church in Buipe was established with a membership of less than thirty. Today, the church has grown and impacted a lot in the communities in the areas of human promotion, education, capacity building for young people and in the promotion of peace.
Bishop Peter Paul lauded the Savannah Regional House of Chiefs for declaring 2022 as a year of action and development and said the vision of the House of Chiefs was captured in the strategic plan of the diocese which was launched last year. In collaboration with the traditional rulers, the church and the chiefs and people of Gonjaland will help roll out more programs for the development of the people.
The Bishop commended Buipewura Jinapor II for doing a lot for the church both openly and behind the scenes and, the fatherly role played in helping the church grow. He recounted how the Paramount chief came to the aid of the church on some land issues at fufulso where the church currently has a primary school running and will have the Junior high level starting soon.
In 2021, Buipewura Jinapor II supported the Martyrs of Uganda parish in Bole with 100 bags of cement towards the construction of the martyrs of Uganda hospital.
The program was attended by chiefs and people of the area, church members, Rev fathers and amongst others.
