Madam Mary Abla Zate, the Mother of Sr. Justine Ayivor of the Sisters of Mary Mother of the Church (SMMC) and Rev. Fr. Ignatius Ayivor of the Society of Divine Word (SVD), have been laid to rest after a Requiem Mass at the Christ the King Cathedral, Akatsi.
The Mass was presided over by the Most Rev. Anthony Kwame Adanuty, the Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Keta-Akatsi, who stepped in for the Most Rev. Gabriel Edoe Kumordji, SVD.
Present at the funeral of the 97-year old Madam Zate on Friday, May 31, 2024, were Sr. Dr. Lucy Hometorwu, the Superior General of SMMC and a good number of Sisters from the SMMC Institute and other Religious Institutes, SVD Priests and Religious, Priests of Keta-Akatsi Diocese, Accra and other Dioceses of the Country.
Extending condolences to the Ayivor family and the two Religious, Bishop Adanuty explained that Priests and Religious and their parents are buried by a Bishop.
He noted that it was not to say these category of people are more important than the rest of the faithful, but a special arrangement made by the Bishop of the Diocese to curb his excessive funeral attendance.
“If the Bishop should be at every funeral of the faithful, I don’t think he can do any other work”, he opined.
Preaching the homily at the requiem Mass, Fr. Paul Dogba, SVD, eulogised Madam Zate as a virtuous woman with deep faith in God and fervent in her devotion to mother Mary.
“It is not a coincidence that our mother Mary Zate being buried today on the feast of Mary” (The feast of visitation),” he said, adding that she sought the intersession of Mother Mary fervently.
He said Madam Zate inculcated her humility, hard work and strong faith into her children-a reason for which God blessed the family with two of her children becoming a Religious Priest and a Sister.
Fr. Dogba urged parents to allow their children to join Priestly and Religious life instead of preventing them.
By Sr. Agnes Mercy Nyatsoe, SMMC (Sister Communicator)
