The Bishop of Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate in Ghana’s Eastern Region, the Most Rev. John Alphonse Asiedu, SVD, has entreated Catholics to appreciate grandparents and the elderly for who they are and what they stand for.
“They are part of the Church. They are part of our human family, part of the nation. We are blessed that we have them with us,” he said at a Mass at the St. Mary Catholic Church at Adeemra in the Afram Plains to mark the World day of Grandparents and Elderly.
Preaching the homily on July 28, 2024, the Bishop stated “We want to let them know that their lives have not been wasteful,” adding, “We have benefitted so much from the sacrifices of their toils, from their commitment and dedication.”
He appreciated the elderly for their faith, work for the Church and their families, entrusting their lives into the hands of the Lord, praying that “We on our part may be touched by the spirit of the Lord to be able to support them, love them, care for them until the time when God Himself will bring them home, where He has gone to prepare for them.”
Bishop Asiedu said the celebration would be ongoing, hence, the beginning of another step the Church would take in her relationship with grandparents and the elderly. He assured them that they would not be left alone but “We are together with you in your pain, sorrow, agony, and joys.”
“You can always count on us and we will be closer and closer to you,’’ the Bishop pledged.
He implored the Christians to pray and ask the Lord for a generous heart, ‘‘to be able to do what our Holy Father is inviting us to do for our grandparents and the elderly’’.
Rev. Fr. Dionisius Kopong OLA, SVD, Parish Priest of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Adeemra in an interview shared how he received the Pope’s message through his Local Ordinary and how he and his Parishioners acted on it.
“When we got the information at Adeemra, we started organising the celebration. On Sunday July 21, we had the launching and from Monday to Friday, we had talks in the evenings inside the Church on five different themes spread out for the five days.”
The themes for discussion were: Do not cast me off in my old age (Ps 71:9), The grace of time and the bond between age and life, Old age, A Resource for Light-hearted Youth, Honour your father and your mother: love for the gift of life, The joyful service of faith that is learned in gratitude (cf. Mk 1:29-31), and I go to prepare a place for you – Old age, a time projected towards fulfilment.
On Friday, the Church community as part of the celebration fetched water for the elderly people in the town, both Catholics and non-Catholics, using the Parish car to convey the water to the homes that were far away.
On Saturday, he said, “we went to visit them, to talk to them, to listen to them share their experiences.”
It is worth noting that Adeemra is one of the eight Parishes in the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom, created in 2013 first as an Apostolic Prefecture.
For a very long time, Adeemra was the lone Parish in the whole of Afram Plains, with only one priest, to take care of all the Stations, until it gave birth to the other seven Parishes and 1 island Mission. The Parish is run by Missionaries of the Divine Word (SVD).
The depravity of the Afram Plains remains a major concern for its inhabitants. It is estimated that as high as 80% of the population fall below the poverty line.
Migration in search of food and income to overcome such conditions tend to disrupt the smooth development of the district, posing a big challenge to the growth of the Church in the area.
By Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR (DEPSOCOM, Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom
