Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Accra (Agenzia Fides)- “Participation in the liturgy was intense and devout” said local sources in the Ghana diocese of Navrongo, where celebrations for the centenary of evangelisation in northern Ghana concluded yesterday 23 April (see Fides 23 April 2007).
Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, special envoy to the celebrations presided the Mass in the Cathedral of Navrongo attended by thousands of faithful. “It was truly a celebration of the people of God” Fides sources report. “The people had come from all over Ghana, not only from the north. There were also delegations from Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Togo, Benin and especially from Burkina Faso across the border only 40 kilometres from Navrongo”.
It was from Burkina Faso that the first Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) came to evangelise northern Ghana over 100 years ago. “In the sign of the universality of the Church there were also delegations from other continents” the sources told Fides. “In particular a delegation which included also about twenty lay persons from the diocese of Munster in Germany which is associated with the ecclesiastical Province to which the diocese of Navrongo belongs. During the years the two dioceses have established strong ties which the centenary celebrations made even stronger”.
There were also civil authorities present for the closing Centenary celebrations including a representative of the president of Ghana John Agyekum Kufuor, who read an address which underlined the positive role played by the Catholic Church to foster the human and civil development of Ghana.
Cardinal Dias has now started a series of visits which will take him to various parts of the country. Tomorrow 25 April he will go to Sunyani to lay the foundation stone for the definitive building of the Catholic University of Ghana. “The college has been operating for five years in temporary premises, at the pastoral centre of the diocese of Sunyani, and it is an important point of reference for all the people of Ghana” Fides sources conclude. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 24/4/2007 righe 31 parole 382)
