The Conference of Major Superiors of Religious in Ghana (CMSR-G), made up of consecrated men and women have elected a new leadership to steer the affairs of the Conference for the next two years at their just ended Bi-Annual Meeting held at Koforidua.
The consecrated men and women elected Very Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Paul Saa-Dade Ennin, SMA as President and Sr. Francisca Damoah, SIJ as the new Vice President of the Conference.
The rest of the elected executives are Sr. Christina Doggu, HHCJ, the Financial Secretary and Friar Vitus Edem Yao Mensah, OFM Conventual as Councillor for the Conference with Sr. Theodora Adzayawo, SMMC as the appointed Executive Secretary.
The new leadership takes over from Sr. Mercy Boateng, SSL led administration whose leadership secured remarkable funding support from the Hilton Foundation, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) among others to strengthen and streamline the major activities and projects of the conference.
In a remark, Sr. Boateng encouraged the members of the Conference not to shy away from leadership roles but to strive harder to contribute to the growth and development of the conference to enable it carry its mission effectively and efficiently.
She explained that a lot had been done but more remains to be done to enable the Conference “to be vibrant, formidable and prophetic Catholic Missionary body in Ghana collaboratively responding to the signs of the times through sustainable programs towards the positive transformation of society.”
In his acceptance speech, Fr. Ennin, who is the Provincial Superior of the Society of African Missions (SMA) in Ghana, promised to be a servant leader and called for the co-operation from the membership of the Conference.
In an interview with Newswatchgh.com, Fr. Ennin, said as a Catholic Missionary group, their first duty was to bear witness to Jesus Christ, crucified for the salvation of the world.
“Our number one priority is to seek new ways of announcing the Good News of Christ, in partnership with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in response to the signs of the times,” he indicated.
He said the new administration would among other things, continue and consolidate the work of their predecessors in the area of institutional growth and capacity building to equip the Conference and member congregations to enable them accomplish even more for Christ and the communities they work in.
“Our members are doing tremendous work all over Ghana in remote villages transforming lives and bringing integral development to communities. They do this most often in total discretion and silence. We want to bring these works to the fore of society,” he said.
He assured to make the Conference and the activities of its members more visible in the Ghanaian society in line with the invitation of the Apostolic Nuncio.
Another prioritise area, he said, would be “to live our prophetic vocation by strengthening our networking capabilities and creating platforms with other stakeholders and persons of goodwill, civil society and other religious groups in addressing critical national issues like the destruction of the environment, corruption.”
By Damian Avevor and Robert Mawuenyegah
