A Ghanaian Priest based in the United States of America has recommended to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Ghana to consider the training and formation of Priests, Religious, Catechists and Society leaders in ecological spirituality.
According to him, it has become imperative to also consider the teaching of the care of the environment as a necessary component of the teaching of Catechism in parishes and outstations in the West African country of Ghana.
Rev. Fr. Dr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye, a priest of Ghana’s Cape Coast Catholic Archdiocese, who recently defended his doctorate thesis at the Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, made the recommendation in a remark during the media launch of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s five-year “Laudato Si” Action Programme (LSAP).
The launching, which took place at the National Catholic Secretariat, Accra on Wednesday, November 24, was performed by the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, the Most Rev. Henryk M. Jagodzinski.
Speaking via Zoom from the United States, Fr. Abbey-Quaye said it was important for all Archdioceses and Dioceses follow up with the implementation of the Laudato Si’ Action Programme which had been launched and to be very consistent with their reports.
“Besides, Diocesan Laudato Si should be strengthened and encouraged to set up Units that are dedicated to ecological issues,” he proposed, adding, “These Units should be adequately resourced with funding and qualified personnel to facilitate the formation of eco-friendly groups in our parishes and outstations.
According to Fr. Abbey-Quaye, a former Assistant Secretary General of the National Catholic Secretariat such groups could be known as Friends of the Earth, Children for the Earth, Youth for Earth-Care.
He expressed optimism that “if these and other recommendations are followed through as part of the overall implementation of the National Laudato Si’ Action Plan, the Church in Ghana would be able to fulfil her divine mandate for the care of the environment as well as Pope Francis’ calls for actions and dialogue to save and heal the Earth, our common home.”
According to him, in the past two years, as part of his studies, he undertook an intensive and extensive research into the ecological teachings of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) from 1965, when the Conference began to issue communiques and other pastoral documents to date.
He said his research reveals, “The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has been very consistent in their ecological teachings and advocacy on the care of the environment in Ghana from 1965 till date, seeing the care of the environment as a very important aspect of their pastoral care and solicitude.”
Fr. Abbey-Quaye indicated that in their ecological teachings and advocacy on the care of the environment in Ghana, the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference had always grounded these ecological teachings solidly on the principles of Catholic social teaching, such as stewardship and care of creation, the earth as a common good, intergenerational solidarity, and integral ecology, among others.
“On four separate occasions, the Conference has considered the possibility of collaborating with the Ghana Government on the care of the environment in Ghana in 1981, 1995, 1997 and more recently, in 2021 on the Green Ghana Project,” he pointed out.
He noted, “Despite being very consistent on ecological teachings and advocacy for all this while, the same consistency cannot be said of practical implementation of ecological policies and actions in the dioceses, parishes and other institutions of the Church.”
Citing an example, he said his research informs that not many of dioceses in Ghana had ecological policies as part of their overall diocesan pastoral plans.
“I consider Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ in general and its seven-year Action Plan in particular as offering a unique opportunity for the Catholic Church in Ghana to begin to put into practice the Bishops’ Conference’s consistent ecological teachings and advocacy on the care of the environment in Ghana,” he averred.
