Methodist Church bans 1-week funeral celebrations in Obuasi

The Bishop of the Obuasi Diocese of the Methodist Church, Right Rev. Stephen Richard Bosomtwe-Ayensu, has justified the decision of his Diocese to ban what he calls the extravagant one-week celebration of a member’s death, in a bid to curb the high cost of organizing funerals.

The decision which was taken at a 5-Day 14th Annual Synod of the Diocese at Fomena in the Adansi North District, takes effect from July 2011.

One-week celebration is traditionally a time for planning the final funeral rites of a relative and mostly attended by family members in a solemn atmosphere.

But it appears some families are gradually raising the tempo of that solemn ceremony, making it extravagant and perhaps an avenue for profit making.

According to Rt Rev. Stephen Richard Bosomtwe-Ayensu, the Church has observed that such celebrations were becoming too expensive, and had added to the already high cost of funerals.

In arriving at the decision, he said the Church considered the cost of printing posters and the hiring of public address systems among others.

He noted that it has taken the Church a year of thorough deliberations and prayers on the merits and demerits of the directive. Any member who flouts the regulation will not be assisted by the Church to bury their deceased.

Rev. Bosomtwe-Ayensu told the Host of the Citi Breakfast Show Bernard Avle on Wednesday May 18, that some families have turned the celebration into a money-making venture where they accept donations and engage in excessive merry-making.

The Bishop disagreed with suggestions that the Church is being autocratic and perhaps disrespecting customs and tradition because the one-week celebration is part of the funeral process.

Citing the example of a one-week celebration within the Akan ethnic group, he noted that the celebration is basically a time solely for the family to fix either a burial or funeral date for a deceased relative in a solemn atmosphere.

“We have told our members that even the billboards they erect when a person dies, it’s something some of us do not understand. Is it an advertisement by a company? Why all these things? Are we Christians? So this is one of the areas that we are concentrating to minimize if not stop it”.

The Bishop also raised issues with events such as engagements and out-doorings which he believes have become “meaningless and lost significance” because they have been overstretched. He said the church will gradually consider streamlining all such events.

He said the directive will be discussed later at the national conference of the Methodist Church (Synod) for a possible adoption at the national level.

Source: Citifmonline.com