The Most Rev. Henryk M. Jagodzinski, the Pope’s representative in the West African country of Ghana has commended the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious in Ghana (CMSRG) for initiating a project aimed at responding to the Coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged the world.
The Nuncio made the commendation in Kumasi on October 15, 2021 during the launch of the project by the CMSRG dubbed: “Religious in Ghana Strengthening Covid -19 Response.”
“The launching of your strengthening Covid -19 response is indeed a great manifestation of hope which would surely give happiness to others and a concrete response to the call of love and service for all our brothers and sisters,” the Nuncio said.
He thanked the Conference of Major Superiors for considering it as a part of their pastoral concern and responsibility to get involved in ensuring that people responded positively to the COVID-19 vaccine.
The goal of the project among other things is to ensure that Members of the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious Ghana become aware, have knowledge on, embrace the Covid-19 vaccine as an example to the communities they work in, and educate marginalized communities and the populace at risk of Covid-19 on the safety precaution of the Covid-19.
It is also to demystify the myth surrounding Covid-19 vaccines in Ghana through comprehensive education and Advocacy on the vaccines, put up sisters-led advocacy through engagement with key stakeholders towards ensuring access to available Covid-19 vaccines by people and communities on the margins of society and to partner with state and private institutions to undertake the planned activities to ensure effectiveness and avoid duplication.
“We are all invited to a renewed hope in order to give hope to others. We all know that hope is a virtue which responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in our every heart,” Archbishop Jagodzinski said at the October 15 project launch, adding, “Hope is bold; it can open us up to grand ideals that make life more beautiful, helpful and worthwhile for ourselves and for others.”
“With the theme of the project launching-“Religious in Ghana Strengthening Covid-19 Response”, I would like to share with you some inspirational messages of His Holiness Pope Francis in his Encyclical Letter “Fratelli Tutti” on fraternity and social friendship,” he stated.
He noted “In this encyclical, the Pope expresses his desire that by acknowledging the dignity of each person we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity and he invites all of us to make this universal desire for fraternity be our own desire, starting with the recognition that we are “fratelli tutti”, we are all brother and sisters for God has created us all human beings with equal rights, duties and dignity.
The Holy Father, the Nuncio said, “has called us to live together as brothers and sisters. For us Christians, the wellspring of human dignity and fraternity is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ who called us to a universal charity, to a universal communion with the entire human family and which is a vocation of all. This is what inspires our actions and commitments.”
“For us Catholics, this journey of fraternity also has a Mother, whose name is Mary. Having received this universal motherhood at the foot of the cross, she cares not only for Jesus but also for the rest of her children,” the Nuncio noted.
According to Archbishop Jagodzinski, “In the power of the risen Lord, she (Mary) wants to give birth to a new world, where there is room for all those whom our societies discard, the poor, the sick, the marginalized, and where justice and peace are resplendent.
Why is there a call for the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity? He asked, responding, “It is because, in today’s world, the sense of belongingness to a single human family is fading, and the dream of working together for justice and peace seems an outdated utopia.”
The Nuncio noted that “the Covid-19 pandemic provides the backdrop for Fratelli Tutti as a sign of the times that has highlighted and exacerbated systemic injustices, revealing the fundamental interconnectedness of human beings, along with our willful fragmentation and dissonance as the Holy Father says: “As I was writing this letter, the Covid-19 pandemic unexpectedly erupted, exposing our false securities. Aside from the different ways that various countries responded to the crisis, their inability to work together became quite evident.”
“The worldwide tragedy like the Covid-19 pandemic revived the sense that we are a global community, all in the same boat, where one person’s problems are the problems of all,” the Nuncio stressed.
Archbishop Jagodzinski indicated, “Amidst this pandemic crisis, His Holiness, the Holy Father offers to us a message of hope. Despite these dark clouds, God continues to sow abundant seeds of goodness in our human family.”
The recent pandemic, the Pope’s Envoy to Ghana said has “enabled us to recognize and appreciate once more all those around us who, in the midst of fear, responded by putting their lives on the line.”
The Conference of Major Superiors of Religious Ghana is a registered body in Ghana with a membership of about 70 religious institutes (local and international), representing over 1500 members of whom 70% are women.
The Conference has the vision to be a vibrant, formidable and prophetic Catholic Body in Ghana collaboratively responding to the signs of the times through sustainable programs towards the positive transformation of society. Its Mission is to effectively strengthen Catholic Religious Institutes in Ghana and to foster their missionary engagements through collaboration with relevant stakeholders towards the integral development of the human person.
