The Very Rev. Fr. Bernard Adjei Appiah, SVD, Administrator of the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral at Donkorkrom, has admonished Priests and Religious in the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom not to hold unto the offenses committed against them by their brethren.
He made this known during a one-day Lenten Recollection for Priests and Religious at the Cathedral on Saturday, March 22, 2025.
In his homily during a Thanksgiving Mass to climax the recollection, Fr. Bernard opined that it had become very necessary for Priests and Religious to forgive each other easily to live in peace.
God, he said doesn’t hold unto “our transgressions for a long time, hence we must equally do same.”
Fr. Appiah indicated that refusing to forgive their brethren in their various communities takes a lot of energy from an individual, saying, the spirit of unforgiveness drains a lot of energy from a person and brings a lot of health challenges on the individual.
“God is merciful, just like in the case of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, hence we must also be merciful and forgive people easily, no matter the offenses they have committed against us,” he stated.
The Cathedral Administrator advised the Priests and Religious to avoid the spirit of perfectionism in their lives, which was the posture of the senior son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
“Who chose to justify himself as a good person against his junior brother? No one is perfect,” he alluded.
He bemoaned the rampant divisions and misunderstandings in presbyteries and religious communities, because of the high rate of unforgiveness, and asserted that the situation is gradually collapsing the various communities, hence the need to make amends to bring life and freshness in these areas.
By Rev. Fr. Matthew Akakpo
