In unison with Mother Church, the Bishop of Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate, Most Rev. John Alphonse Asiedu, SVD, has celebrated the climax of the 4th World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly at the St. Mary Catholic Church at Adeemra in the Afram Plains.
According to the message of the Holy Father, this all-important event was meant to run from Sunday July 21 to 28, 2024 and to this effect, the Bishop of Donkorkrom had dispatched messages to all the Parish Priests within the Vicariate, communicating the ceremony.
Preaching during Mass on July 28, which was a thanksgiving Mass for all that had happened throughout the week, the Bishop said: “My dear friends, today, we bring to completion in one way or the other, the program we started last Sunday reaching out to our grandparents and elderly.”
“Throughout the week, we have been coming here to listen to talks, to discuss, to share, as a way of sensitizing ourselves, reminding ourselves how we need to be close to our grandparents and the elderly, and also demonstrate in action how we will be able to support them in their old age, as the Holy Father invites us to let them feel belonging, loved, and cared for, because God does not abandon his people no matter their situation, he stated.
He added: “Through us, may they experience the true love of God, the true support of God through the various things we have been able to do for them, especially in their old age when they are weak and fragile”.
Bishop Asiedu affirmed that “Beside the talks that we came here to share, to listen to, many of you were also involved in reaching out to them. On Friday, you went out to give them water to drink, to wash themselves, to do the needful.”
On Saturday again, they went out to have an interaction with them, discussing and sharing with them; in other words, drawing the church closer to our elderly and grandparents.
The Bishop therefore charged Christians to develop a spirit of giving, of sharing; that generous spirit that will make them see everything they have as a gift from God; the gift to use in support of their brothers and sisters who are in most need.
He presented gifts to each of the grandparents and elderly, with the assistance of Mr. Kennedy Fofie, the Church Secretary.
Making reference to a Ghanaian adage, Mr. Emmanuel Kwakye Sampong, on behalf of the grandparents and elderly, expressed appreciation to the bishop for spearheading the whole programme and for his magnanimous gesture towards them.
He thanked the Holy Father for organising such a programme for them, and expressed that they had learnt a lot, and shared their experiences with the youths and other adults in the Church.
Recounting their activities of the week, Madam Esther Adzo Fenuku, one of the Church executive members, shared passionately about their encounter and interactions with the elderly during the visitation to their homes on Saturday, July 27.
She said: “We had interactions with them and discussed with them, and then they taught us a lot. They told us about their marriages, how they started as youths up till date.”
According to her, the elders counselled the youths, to preserve their marriages by not sharing their marital issues with outsiders, who would only help to destroy, but rather should sit together and talk things out with each other.
They were further advised on the need to humble themselves before the elders, just like they, elders were before their parents, the reason why they have been able to live up till date, some of them celebrating 65 years in marriage.
The youths and young adults were also challenged by the elders to hold firm to the Catholic Church and not let others deceive them, saying that in their own time, most of their parents were not Christians, but they encouraged them to go to Church so that they would have God in them.
By Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR (DEPSOCOM, Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom)
