The Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gymafi, Bishop of the Sunyani diocese and President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, has called on Seminarians in the church to be passionate about evangelization to make the church new.
He said this during the annual Benefactors’ Day celebration of St. Paul’s Catholic Seminary, Sowutuom, which happened on May 18, 2025.
In his homily during the mass, he emphasized the importance of the formation of priests, noting that the seminary is an “agent of evangelization” to make the church new.
He noted that the dwindling population of Catholics in Ghana is a challenge and that it is important for the potential priests in the seminary to have a passion for evangelization.
“We need you to have that passion of evangelization… The solution is with you, seminarians. We need a new breed of priests who have a passion for the spread of the word of God and who love God’s people, pray with, pray for, and involve them in the work of evangelization”, he said.
Citing Paul and Barnabas from the readings, Bishop Gyamfi called on the seminarians to reach out to small Christian communities to grow the church.
He said, “Go into the outskirts, the peripheries of the towns and villages like they moved to Listeria and Antioch, change and be conversant with the dynamics that are happening as towns and villages grow, go there and start new communities rather than massaging the already ancient existing communities.”
As a former Rector and Formator of St. Paul’s Catholic Seminary, Bishop Gymafi advised the seminarians not to be too comfortable with the benefits they gain from the lay faithful.
He said, “So even as our lay faithful help us, we should be very careful not to take too much comfort in the material and other things that they give us”.
Additionally, he urged them to “rise and renew the face of the Catholic Church in Ghana and make all things new.”
Bishop Gyamfi also emphasized the importance of evangelization for the religious to grow and sustain the number of Catholics in Ghana.
He said, “If the over 3,000 priests and religious in Ghana now were all working with the missionary zeal of the apostles as I have mentioned, the face of the church will be more beautiful and growth in numbers will be sustained and even increased significantly as happened in the early church”.
He also stated that the support that comes from benefactors and benefactresses of the seminary and the church plays a role in making things new in the church.
The Benefactors’ Day celebration of St. Paul’s Catholic Seminary was attended by Papal Knights and Dames, Knights and Ladies of Marshall, Knights of St. John International, Christian Mothers Association, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, Rev. Sisters of various congregations, friends, and families of the seminary community.
By: Veronica Sena Amenya//Newswatchgh.com
