Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has highlighted seven benefits that could be derived from the national cathedral project when completed.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 19th Plenary Assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) at the Christ the King Church in Accra on Tuesday, July 26, President Akufo-Addo said the cathedral would fill a missing link in the nation’s spiritual architecture by providing a formal space for religious activities of the state.
He also noted that the national Cathedral designed would provide an inter-denominational space for worship, place God at the centre of nation-building efforts, provide an official venue of worship for state occasions in a predominantly Christian nation and serve as a fulcrum for propagating the Christian faith.
According the President of the West African country, the cathedral when completed would unify the Christian Community, serve as a tribute to religious liberty and serve as our collective thanksgiving to the Almighty for the blessings he has bestowed on our nation, sparing us the ravages of civil war that have bedevilled the histories of virtually all our neighbours and the outbreaks of mass epidemics.
He indicated that just as the building of the Temple of Solomon was an epoch-making event worldwide, Ghana’s national cathedral construction was an epochal event for the entire African continent.
He said as a result elements such as the design had been included to make it relevant to the African church.
As part of his address, President Akufo-Addo urged the Christian community in Ghana, Africa and abroad to join the fundraising effort for the construction of the national cathedral.
According to him, if the Christian community accepts the challenge, the Cathedral would be completed very quickly and its value would be obvious to all.
“My personal view has always been that even though the cathedral would be very much a national institution, the cost should be largely borne by the Christian community, with the state providing the land and initial funding to get the project off the ground,” he stated.
“Looking through the history of all the great cathedrals of the world,” President Akufo-Addo said, “there has never been, what can be called, ‘an appropriate time’ to build a Cathedral. Invariably, it has taken many years, sometimes centuries to complete.
“The National Cathedral in Washington DC took eighty-three (83) years to complete; it took one hundred and fifty (150) years to build St Peter’s Basilica in Rome; and it took one hundred and eighty-two (182) years to finish the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Indeed, the reigning medieval monarchs of the time made significant contributions towards the construction of Notre Dame in Paris, and, in the case of the Basilica, construction began and was completed during the era of the Papacy’s greatest temporal power, again in medieval times.
“When these great Cathedrals were built, the societies that house them had not finished with the satisfaction of their major “development” needs – hospitals, schools, bridges, roads, homes needed to be built, and, I daresay, if one were to consider only those needs, there would never be a good time to build a Church, a Cathedral or any of the great buildings of faith around the world. But, once they are built, they have proven to be instruments that brought people together, and deepened the spiritual and emotional experiences of people.
“I am fortified by the words of Holy Scripture, in Ecclesiastes chapter eleven (11), verse four (4), which says: ‘If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never sow anything and never harvest anything.’”
According to Ghana’s President, “I am hoping that the Christian community in Ghana, Africa and abroad, will rise up to the challenge, and join in the fundraising for the construction of the National Cathedral. I do not envisage that this project will take a century to complete like the great historical cathedrals of the world. Technology has transformed building methods dramatically, and I am certain that, if the Christian community accepts the challenge, we shall construct this cathedral and quickly. Once completed, its value will be obvious to all.”
“Three (3) years ago, on 15th April 2019, the great Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was engulfed by a big fire. The next morning, the French President, His Excellency Emmanuel Macron, stood by the devastated monument and said, and I quote, ‘Notre Dame is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicentre of our lives’. That statement sparked a dramatic response amongst the French people, for it led many French men and women, great and small, to make generous contributions towards the restoration of the great, iconic monument, which is fully on course.
“Those words struck a deep chord within me. That is what I see as the purpose of our national Cathedral. Let us build our National Cathedral to be the epicentre of our lives, the place for our great celebrations, our thanksgiving, our funerals, the place for great moments of silence and introspection, the place that symbolises the place of faith in our national psyche. I give my personal undertaking that the funds raised for the building of the National Cathedral will be treated with the sacred trust that they deserve, with transparency and accountability.
“Eminent Clergy, I pray that you have fruitful discussions and your conference is successful. We look forward to hearing the results of your deliberations. And, let me, again, remind those of you who are visitors to make time to visit our beautiful country,” said the President.
He expressed “great joy and gratitude to the Holy Father for the elevation of our worthy compatriot, Bishop Baawobr Richard Kuuia, and our fellow African, Bishop Peter Okpaleke, of Nigeria, to the enviable status of Cardinals of the Catholic Church. They are both to be warmly congratulated.”
“I had the great privilege and pleasure to be part of the Government delegation in October 2003 as then Minister for Foreign Affairs that accompanied Archbishop Peter Appiah Turkson to Rome, when he was elevated by Pope John Paul II to the status of Cardinal. It was a great eye opener for me, which I continue to cherish till today, including the companionship of Archbishop Gabriel Palmer Buckle, who was with us in Rome at the time,” he concluded.
