Celebrating this major milestone needs to extend beyond the Cape Coast Archdiocese to embrace the nineteen dioceses and one remaining apostolic vicariate that constitute Ghana’s Catholic hierarchy, not least because this anniversary recalls that institution’s inception.
Five years from now, in 2030, the Catholic Church will mark a hundred and fifty years of her uninterrupted mission in Ghana since the SMA Fathers Auguste Moreau and Eugene Murat landed on the shores of Elmina on May 18, 1880 to commence the re-evangelization of our country. Contemporary Catholicism across Ghana traces its beginnings to that moment and location, even if Catholic penetration into northern Ghana advanced from present-day Burkina Faso through the missionary exertions of the Missionaries of Africa or White Fathers in 1906.
Accordingly, just as occurred in 1980 when the centenary of the Catholic mission in Ghana received nationwide attention and participation under the distinguished patronage of the Holy Father, Pope St. John Paul II, so one may reasonably surmise that five years from now, similar national celebrations will mark Ghanaian Catholicism’s sesquicentenary. Indeed, one could make a case for using the opportunity of this Diamond Jubilee since the establishment of Ghana’s hierarchy to launch remote preparations for the anticipated sesquicentennial celebrations as a five-year run-up to that more significant moment.
In this and similar respects, reason suggests a more concerted and collaborative approach by the current church leadership to organizing present or future celebrations rather than a single archdiocese or ecclesiastical province undertaking to commemorate the occasion.
The Cape Coast Archdiocese, being the birthplace of Catholicism in Ghana, will always occupy a significant role in these celebrations, but it should not be the sole organizer. Whether marking the growth of seventy-five, one hundred, or one hundred and fifty years, as long as it pertains to the beginnings of Catholicism in Ghana, Cape Coast Archdiocese will always occupy pride of place. It is imperative that our actions as a church regarding the present anniversary express Roman Catholic unity and strength, thus setting aside differences and the divergence of outlooks.
Therefore, this article requests Ghana’s Catholic hierarchy to demonstrate collective leadership in celebrating the moment that captures the origins of their current ecclesiastical status in Ghana and, even more broadly, the passage from childhood to adulthood of the Roman Catholic Church in our country.
With one resounding “Tsoboi!” issuing from all episcopal larynxes, our bishops may add to their onerous responsibilities another one of rallying all Catholic faithful in Ghana for this anniversary celebration with a view towards the one hundred and fiftieth in five years. It is not too late for them to do so, as this could be an agenda item for their May 2025 plenary. Their decision to do so will be to seize and not squander this diamond opportunity.
By Rev. Fr. Kpanie Addy, S.J.
Editor’s Note: Watch out for the final part.
