The Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie, CSSp, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra has called on Christians, especially Catholics in the Archdiocese to remain deeply united and merciful to each other in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Archbishop Kwofie made the call on last Sunday, April 24, 2022, during a Pastoral visit to the Seat of Wisdom Catholic Church, Oyarifa in the Madina Deanery of the Accra Archdiocese.
He prayed that Christians in the world would be more genuinely united to families and friends as witnesses of mercy.
In a sermon, he decried the attitude of bearing grudges and nursing anger and wrath against one another, adding that total forgiveness could avert destruction and damage.
Archbishop Kwofie stressed that if there was to be a better future, “our hearts must change for the better, for God has shown mercy to us during the pandemic and we must show mercy to one another.”
“Let us continue to ask the Spirit for the gift of unity; for only if we live as brothers and sisters, as families and a nations that can we spread the spirit of fraternity. We cannot ask others to be united if we ourselves take different paths. So let us pray for one another; let us each feel responsible for the other,” the Archbishop said.
He noted that after Easter which marks the death and the resurrection of Christ, God infected the world with life more than ever and it was necessary to implore the Holy Spirit to pour forth into our hearts the life of God, who is love.
He further advised Christians to endeavour to forgive an offender to obtain mercies of God, stating, “Everybody wants mercy and not everybody is working in such a way to get mercy and according to the Lord who owns mercy, you must be merciful before you can get mercy.”
While admonishing Catholics to continue to show mercy by reflecting on what they longed for, Archbishop Kwofie reminded the parishioners to continue to support the Archdiocese to grow in spirit and in development.
He expressed appreciation to all the Catholic Churches in the Archdiocese for the mercy shown by reaching out to the vulnerable with food and other items during the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 to 2021.
The Archbishop also charged the parishioners to contribute to the Archdiocesan Legacy of Hope (LoH) Project.
Recently, the Archbishop cut sod for the construction of the Children pediatric hospital which is the first of the project at a cost of about two (2) million dollars, and therefore called on all and sundry to contribute their quota for the fulfillment of this good course.
Some of the projects which fall under the Legacy of Hope projects include completion of the Youth Center, Priests’ Retirement Home, Archdiocesan Secretariat, and Completion of the Catechetical Center, Catholic Cemetery, and Cathedral Restoration.
In his welcome remarks, Chairman of the Church Pastoral Council of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, Mr. Henry Adjei commended the Archbishop for being the first Bishop to have paid a pastoral visit to the Church since its formation 27 years ago.
The Church, he said, had grown with a population of about 1,200 having started from a parishioner’s House to a school classroom and now at its present place.
He added that following the growing population of the church, a new chapel of over 1,200 seating capacity was being constructed and expressed the hope that the Church would get support from the archdiocese to complete on time.
The Church was elevated to a Spiritan Centre under the Congregation of the Holy SPirit (CSSp) in 2019, by the Archbishop, thereby weaning the Church out completely as an Outstation of the St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church at Adenta.
It currently has two residence priests, Rev. Fr. Anthony Anomah as the priest-in-charge and his Assistant, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baffour Akoto, both Spiritans.
The Archbishop visitation Mass was concelebrated by other priests including Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Darfour Appah, Secretary to the Archbishop; Rev. Fr. John Yaw Osei and Rev. Fr. Lawrence Awuah.
Some past Church Pastoral Council Chairmen were honoured for their invaluable contribution to the growth of the Church for the last 27 years.
The former Chairmen were Simon Akli, from 2001 to 2005, John Confidence Adjai, 2006 to 20011, Emmanuel Sarfo Kantaka, 2012 to 2015 and Dr. Victor Antwi, 2016 to 2020.
