In spite of the concerns of the dwindling Catholic Population of the West African country of Ghana, an Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, the Most Rev. Anthony Narh Asare is of the opinion that the numbers aren’t going down, but rather Catholics have become lazy.
“The gathering today is for delegates and look at the encouraging numbers. I’m sure some haven’t come but the numbers are good, so, if somebody says the Church is going down in numbers, it’s not but we have become lazy,” he said at the opening of the 10th Biennial Conference of the Accra Archdiocesan Christian Mothers’ Association (CMA) at the University of Ghana on September 5, 2024.
Stating that at every gathering, there were more women than men, he said the vibrancy of women groups was an attestation that the Church is alive and the population isn’t going down as perceived.
The five-day Conference from September 4 to 8, 2024 was on the theme: The Lord Has Done Great Things For Me, Holy is His Name (Luke1:49).
The opening ceremony was chaired by Nana Kugbeadzor Bakateyi II, Queen Mother of Likpe-Gudeve in the Oti Region, who is the Regional Director of Education for Bono Region and the Dean for Regional Directors of Education, Ghana.
Prof. Patricia Akweongo Cassoma, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control at the University of Ghana and a parishioner of St. Bakhita Catholic Church, Community 20 in Accra Archdiocese was the Guest Speaker.
Present were the National Spiritual Director of CMA, Very Rev. Fr. Alfons Amanor, SVD and some Deanery Spiritual Directors; some National Officers of CMA and representatives of the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW).
Speaking to hundreds of delegates of the Christian Mothers’ Association from the eight Deaneries of the Accra Archdiocese on September 5, 2024, Auxiliary Bishop Asare said the Catholic Church is there for everyone to be happy and “Those who are not happy in the Church is their own problem, they have no excuse to make themselves unhappy.”
According to Bishop Asare, who represented the Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, the Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie, CSSp, the way he saw many of the Christian Mothers dancing in the sun joyfully and happily at the opening ceremony of their 10th biennial Conference was an expression of their happiness in the Church.
The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference have in recent times expressed concerns about the dwindling number of Catholics in Ghana. In its Christmas Message in 2022, the Bishops describe the situation as alarming and attribute it to many external and internal factors”.
Although the 2021 Population and Housing Census (2021 PHC) in Ghana shows an increase in the Christian population, the number of Catholics in the country is dwindling.
Over the past decades, the population of Catholics in Ghana has been on a downward trajectory, from 15.1% in the 2000 census, to 13.1% in the 2010 census and further declined to 10% in the 2021 census.
“This indeed is a disturbing trend for our Church. The statistics reveal that if the trend of decline continues at the present rate of 3.1% per decade, we may end up losing grounds totally by the year 2060,” Bishops in Ghana said in their statement on the eve of Advent 2022.
The Bishops Conference saw the trend as very worrying for the Church and noted that this decline in the Catholic population calls for a deep reflection on the part of all of us: the lay faithful, consecrated men and women, priests and bishops.
Due to the disturbing decline in Catholic population in Ghana, GCBC reflected during its 2023 Plenary in Sunyani more widely and deeply on the situation under the theme: “Growing the Catholic Church in Ghana through collaborative ministry.”
In recent times, Bishop Asare and other Bishops of the Church in Ghana have at different functions spoken on the dwindling Catholic population.
Speaking to Junior High and Senior High School graduates of the Accra Archdiocese at a gathering at the St. Thomas Aquinas Chaplaincy at the University of Ghana Legon, on October 21, 2023, Bishop Asare draw attention to the introduction of “Alpha hour,” which had been borrowed from the Catholic Church’s tradition of the “Holy Hour”.
The Most Rev. John Kobina Louis, an Auxiliary Bishop of Accra Archdiocese said in a keynote during the theology week celebration of the St. Peter’s Seminary in Cape Coast on Monday, March 11, 2024 that lack of zeal among priests in Ghana is partly to blame for the country’s dwindling Catholic population.
He found it unfortunate that many Priests in Ghana were doing very little to grow the stations they are assigned, stating that “Many Priests hardly attain the establishment of 40 outstations in 40 Years of priesthood as no wonder and sadly the Catholic population in Ghana is dwindling.
The number of Priests has doubled in the past 40 years while the Catholic population is dwindling.”
On March 13, 2024, the Most Rev. John Alphonse Asiedu, SVD, Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom in Ghana’s Eastern Region also stressed the fact that all Catholics have arduous task to help avert the dwindling Catholic Population in Ghana.
“We all have the responsibility from now on as Christ’s faithful to see to it that the number of our Catholic population does not see a further decline but rather should increase,” he said in an address at the opening of the first biannual meeting of the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious Ghana.
By Damian Avevor
