The Diocese of Goaso has kick-started the celebration of its Silver Jubilee celebration of existence with a Mass at the St. Anthony Cathedral, Goaso.
The Most Rev. Peter Atuahene in a homily during the Mass on February 12 called on the faithful of the diocese to “become promoters of our Lord Jesus Christ in the world.”
“We do not contextualise what we believe or compromise our faith, we become witnesses at home, at work, in school and wherever we find ourselves. So, let us pray in this Mass that God will endow us with all the gift we need to become various witnesses in this world we live in now,” the Bishop said.
Preaching on the theme “Witnessing,” the Bishop, who also marks his Silver Jubilee of Episcopacy asked the faithful to always show gratitude to God for His goodness.
The Bishop said “If God does something for you, He expects you to proclaim and to witness him to your family, people, and wherever you go. This is why today we are thanking God for the past 25 years.”
On February 8, the Bishop was ordained as the first prelate of the newly created Diocese.
“A lot has happened in the past 25 years, but the Lord has been with us. We have to be very grateful, even though things have not all the time been stable. That is the reason why we want to thank him in this Mass for all the things that have past and pray that He will continue to be with us as we move into the deep.”
The whole year have been declared a Jubilee Year with a series of activities to be climaxed on the October 21, 2023 with the Nuncio as the guest of honour.
Bishop Atuahene urged the faithful to pray that the year will be a blessing for the Diocese and a year that God’s favour will be declared through each and everyone in the diocese.
“We identify with Solomon today to take part and see how the Lord has given us a place. Now we pray that He blesses each one of us and lead us on in taking responsibility,” the Bishop said.
Present at the Mass were was Rev. Mgrs. Matthew Addai, Vicar General of the Diocese; Rev. Fr. Stephen Gyau, the Financial Administrator of the Diocese, Rev. Fr. Gaspard Dery, Information Director of the Diocese; Rev. Fr. Isaac Adjei Aniwah, Cathedral Administrator.
Present were the Ahafo Regional Minster, Mr. George Yaw Boakye, family of the Bishop Atuahene, Outstations, Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM) Sisters and other Societies; St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, Catholic Women Association, Christian Mothers, Charismatic Renewal, CYO, Knight of St. John International and Knights and Ladies of Marshal and student of Yamfo College of health.
The Catholic Diocese of Goaso is the sixteenth Diocese in Ghana to be created by the Holy Father Pope John Paul II. Until October 1997, the Catholic Diocese of Goaso was part of the Catholic Diocese of Sunyani. The installation of the current and first Bishop, Most Rev. Peter Kwaku Atuahene, took place on February 8, 1998, at Goaso.
The Dioceses which started with only one Religious Congregation, Our Lady of Apostle (OLA) Sisters, now has 16 Congregations with 75 Sisters and five Male Congregations with nine Religious Brothers and Priests. There were only eight Parishes 25 years ago but currently there are 33 Parishes with 73 Priests.
