The Very Rev. Fr. Paul Saa-Dade Ennin, Provincial Superior of the Society of African Missions (SMA), has presided over the 30th Anniversary thanksgiving Mass for the St. Mark Catholic Church at Ashongman Estate in the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra with a call on the people of God to be missionaries of mercy.
In a homily on the anniversary climax and thanksgiving Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2025, Fr. Ennin focused his homily on three areas: Mission of Mercy, Mission of Encounter and Mission of Breaking Barriers and Walls.
He prayed that the St. Mark community would, in the next 30 years, experience the victory of mercy, saying that God is never tired of being merciful to His people.
According to him, the 30-year milestone of St. Mark Church coincides with four major events of the Church – Easter Season, Celebration of God’s Divine Mercy Sunday, Jubilee Year, and the passing on of Pope Francis, commending the St. Mark parishioners for keeping ablaze the missionary zeal started by the SMA.
Fr. Ennin, who is the President of the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious, Ghana (CMSR-GH), lauded the faithful for exhibiting their willingness to work for Christ, which had brought them this far.
Saying that the SMA family has a special spot for the St. Mark Church, he also extolled the SMA Priests who had worked in the Community out of willingness, mentioning Frs. Franz Mulders, Koos Jansen, and Daniel Lou as pioneer priests before the Diocesan Priests took over pastoral leadership of the Church.
He stated that 30 years was no mean achievement, reminding the faithful that “You are all part of the willingness to do the work of God,” held the parishioners, saying that “I’m counting on your willingness to continue with what has been started.”
He urged the community to lead lives devoid of extortion, slavery, human trafficking, and corruption, calling on them to be bold in speaking the truth at all times.
The SMA Superior admonished the people to have the culture of encounter, the meeting point between God and man, saying that “We are called to encounter people and meet them.”
He called on the faithful to avail themselves to encounter Jesus in His resurrection as they journey as missionaries of mercy and entreated them to listen to one another in their journey of faith.
“30 years of encounter and journeying together should make you open the doors for more encounters, open up and go into the peripheries, the quality of your encounter with the community will determine how St. Mark Church will become,” Fr. Ennin underpinned.
Saying that 30 years of St. Mark Church was a milestone and a new beginning, he advised the faithful against building walls and barricades in their lives, which eventually make them insecure, urging them to make every effort to overcome obstacles in their lives.
“Whatever little walls you have in your community, may all fall,” he prayed, stating that the community would grow from strength to strength and stand tall in faith, wearing the crown of faith in mercy.
Four Priests, Very Rev. Fr. Clement Adjei, Secretary General of the National Catholic Secretariat; Rev. Fr. John Benya Mensah and Rev. Fr. Francis Oteng Bawuah, former Priests-in-Charge, and Rev. Fr. Precious Nutsugah, the current Priest-in-Charge, concelebrated the Mass.
The Pearl Anniversary was on the theme: Hope and Progress: Celebrating 30 Years of Faith and Community.
As part of the anniversary celebration, a new Grotto, named after Our Lady of Lourdes, was dedicated to the glory of God by the Most Rev. John Kobina Louis, an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese, on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2024.
A ground-breaking ceremony was also held last Sunday for the construction of a rectory, also performed by Bishop Louis.
The proposed three-storey, five-bedroom facility would have a chapel, kitchen, storeroom, living and dining areas, library, and office spaces.
At the climax, funds were raised to support the completion of the Church and compound project as well as to kick-start the construction of the Rectory, while Citations were presented to Frs. Benya Mensah and Oteng Bawuah as former Priests-in-Charge. A citation was also presented to the Society of African Missions (SMA) for starting the community 30 years ago.
Present at the Pearl jubilee Mass were many dignitaries, including the Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, Faustina Elikplim Akurugu.
In a welcome, Mr. Joseph Arthur, Church Pastoral Council chairman, said 30 years in the life of the Church had shaped the people of God, saying that as a church, they were reflecting on their journey with hope of looking into the future with anticipation.
He noted that as a Church, they were celebrating with joy, humility, and reverence that could propel them as a community.
The St. Mark Catholic Church began with some lay faithful who were residents of Ashongman Estate and its environs. As a family of Catholics, they gathered to pray the Holy Rosary, shared the Word, and later expanded to include several Catholic faithful living in the locality to start the community in 1995.
By Damian Avevor
