By Gifty
Amofa, GNA
Accra, Sept. 21, GNA – Most Reverend John Yaw
Afoakwah, the Bishop of Obuase Catholic Church, Ashanti Region, has urged
Christians to transform the world through righteous lifestyles.
He explained that the world is at a stage
where secularism, philosophical trends and different ideological beliefs make
humans to think that they do not need God.
Hence, there is the need for Christians to
transform the world by living righteously, which could be a form of evangelism.
Most Rev. Afoakwah gave the advice during a
forum by the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra as part of the 125th Anniversary
Lecture under the auspices of Most Reverend Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle,
Archbishop of Cape Coast and Administrator of the Accra Diocese.
Speaking on the topic: “Celebrating 125 Years
of Catholic Mission in Accra: Renewing our Commitment to Evangelisation,”
Bishop Afoakwah said: “For Jesus Himself evangelised in more than word. He
cured the sick, fed the hungry, raised the dead and gave hope to the poor”.
For the Catholic Church, the first means of
evangelisation was the witness of a true Christian life, Rev. Afoakwah, the
Guest Speaker of the forum, said.
He said evangelism should be carried out to
non-believers, the lukewarm and even believers because values were distorting
lately, citing gay marriages and lesbianism, whose activities and repercussions
were being downplayed.
“Due to the craving for material things,
occult practices and corruption, among other fraudulent activities, are on the
ascendency, and it was time Christians showed the way by making a difference in
every sphere of their lives,” he said.
Rev Afoakwah called for a repackaging of the
Catholic Church to make it attractive to everyone, adding; “We must position
ourselves to show that what they need is in the Catholic Church.”
Most Reverend Palmer-Buckle, on his part, said
it was unchristian to condone practices such as maltreatment of widows and
wasting time and financial resources on funerals.
“Families spend huge sums of money in
preserving corpses for a long time, spend time and resources on one-week rites,
in addition to the funeral,” he said, and that such monies could be used to
support the bereaved.
Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle noted that it was
criminal to use working hours for one-week funeral rites and charged Catholics
to help do away with such practices since it was detrimental to the country.
Participants called on the leadership to
provide enough logistics to help maintain the membership of the Catholic
Church, especially the youth.
GNA