Africa prepares to host future WYD

Africa prepares to host future WYD

The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), is in the process of making a request to the Holy Father, Pope Francis to consider Africa to host the World Youth Day (WYD) in the near future.

Sir Benedict Assorow, Director of Communications of SECAM, who recently attended the WYD event in Rio de Janeiro with Rev. Fr. Joseph Komakoma, SECAM's Secretary General, told The Catholic Standard, in a recent interview, that the request for the continent to host it would possibly be in 2019 or thereafter.

He said although infrastructure and communications (logistics and transportation) remained a challenge in many African countries, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana were being considered as possible hosts.

He noted that even though the Secretariat was yet to put in the request for the Holy Father's consideration, many people were happy Africa was working towards hosting it.

To this end, ground works were underway to prepare the continent to host the event in future, as part of which a Pastoral Letter by Prelates of Africa has directed the organisation of the Regional and Continental WYD celebrations.

A section of the Youth from Benin at Rio  

Unlike Rio de Janeiro and other cities which hosted the event in the past with huge attendance, Sir Assorow suggested that because of the peculiar challenge of infrastructure and communications in Africa, a reasonable quota of delegates per country throughout the world should be allocated to help the continent host the event.

"Africa cannot afford to host two or three million young people but may be in position to host a million," he added.

Asked why SECAM participated in the event, the Director of Communications narrated that SECAM was invited to a meeting in Rome that was to prepare for  the Madrid 2011WYD and in Rio de Janeiro, where concerns for Africa host to WYD were raised.

He said a report was subsequently presented to SECAM Plenary Assembly which sanctioned Africa's bid to possibly host the event in 2019 to coincide with SECAM's 50th anniversary.

Sir Assorow sharing his experiences at Rio de Janeiro said the Catholic youth in Latin America were alive and very much involved in the growth of the Church, calling for more roles for Catholic youth in Africa.

Some participants of DR. Congo at the event

With much expectation on the Continent to host the WYD, SECAM's Director of Communications expressed the hope that Africa would rise up to the occasion.    

Concerns for Africa's bid was  raised again at the just ended 28th edition of the event in Rio de Janeiro, where expectations among Catholics for Africa to host a future World Youth Day (WYD) is high, especially after all the continents except Africa has hosted the event.

Rev. Fr. Patrick Tor Alumuku, a participant at this year's event, reports that African youth at the event rejoiced when the Archdiocese of Krakow in Poland was named host of the 2016 WYD event, but expressed the desire that the time has come for Africa to host the world event.

“This would give a chance for millions of African Catholic youth to also experience and participate in one of the major Church events of our time” they said.

He reports that the issue which began as a lobby has gained some prominence on social media, adding that "although they differ on where it should be held, African youth are unanimous that after having hosted the World Cup, the continent should be seen as having the capacity to host the WYD."

He noted that Ghanaian, Mozambican, Zimbabwean and South African youth he interviewed were all in favour of an African World Youth Day.

By Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng

     

Catholic Men’s Council

Catholic Men’s Council for Accra

The Accra Archdiocesan Catholic Men’s Council (AACM), was recently inaugurated at the Holy Spirit Cathedral at Adabraka, Accra, with a call on men to actively partake in the evangelisation of the Church.

The new group, is an umbrella body for all Catholic Men Groups in the Archdiocese, tasked to co-ordinate their activities and intensify the evangelisation.   

It has Commander Joseph A. C. Combey (Rtd) as Chairman, with Mr. Lord Akita, Mamprobi Deanery; Mr. David Asetena-Krah, Kpehe Deanery; Mr. Philip Owusu-Ankomah, Kaneshie Deanery and Mr. Dominic Kpodovia, Osu Deanery as well as Kingsford Nii Otoo, Tema Battor Deanery, as Vice Chairmen.

Other Executives are Mr. Joseph Korang, Secretary, Mr. Edward Taylor, Assistant Secretary and Financial Secretary; Mr. Tony Wiredu, Treasurer and Mr. Kingsley Assensoh-Bediako, Public Relations Officer and Mr. Tobias Quist, Immediate Past Chairman;

Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, who performed the inauguration and induction of the Executives, entreated Catholic men to be salt and light of the world, urging them to arise, rejoice and renew the Church in Accra.

He said it was by divine will that their inauguration was taking place during the 120^th Anniversary of the founding of the Catholic Mission in Accra and in The Year of Faith.

The Archbishop explained that the aim of The Year of Faith pronounced by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was to challenge the faithful to let their lives shine and spread the good news to their families, communities and society at large.

To discharge this task successfully, Archbishop Palmer-Buckle urged members of the Council to read Pope Benedict’s Post Synodal Exhortation to Africa: Afriae Munus, to make Africa the true Spiritual Lung of Humanity.

He urged members to rally behind their leaders and support them to help the Council grow from strength to strength.

Cdr. Combey in a welcome address said the Council started two and half years ago at the behest of Sir Samuel Kofi Asubonteng, Executive Secretary of the National Catholic Laity Council, whom he commended.

Sir Asubonteng in a remark, urged members to also read the new Encyclical by Pope Francis, charging them to be prayerful, united and work together to promote the Council.    

A representative of the Accra Archdiocesan Catholic Women Council (CWC), Mrs. Rita Ainooson, President of the Kaneshie St. Theresa CWC, congratulated the Men’s Council in a goodwill message.

Christian Fathers Association; Catholic Men Association; Catholic Men’s Confraternity; The Brotherhood Society and Men of Galeli sent representatives to the ceremony.

National Development Plan

'National Development Plan'

·        A panacea for Ghana's growth says Nubuasah

A Ghanaian Prelate has proposed the enactment of a holistic long term and binding national development plan for the country and depart from the era where governments used political party manifestoes to govern the country.

The call was made by Most Rev. Frank Nubuasah, SVD, Bishop of Francistown Vicariate in Botswana in an interview with the Catholic Standard in Accra, when he recently visited Ghana.

He stressed the need for a five year or 10 year cycle of national development plan which should elicit the views of all segments of the Ghanaian of society, be nationalistic in character and capture the nation’s aspirations and visions.

He underscored the essence for a National Development Plan that would guide the attainment of set goals of the country and which should be followed through by all elected governments, for continuity and progressive development of the Ghana.  

He stated that to ensure holistic development the country we should strive to run transparent by reducing corruption, accountable and address the poor maintenance culture.

Sharing Botswana’s experience, he said there was need for Ghana to institute measures that would improve responsible and accountable governance to not only win the trust of their citizens but the donor agencies as well.  

Bishop Nubuasah expressed concern about the poor maintenance culture in Ghana and most African countries, describing the phenomenon “as a systemic weakness that must be tackled with all seriousness”.

“For instance in most schools there are broken chairs parked and left to rot. Why can’t the school mobilise support from the Parent Teacher Association to fix those Chairs to enhance education? He queried.

“There was something we are certainly not doing right,” he stated and added that “if the country did the right things we would all benefit from its growth and development.”

The Bishop, sharing his views on the Supreme Court ruling of August 29, commended Ghanaians for conducting themselves peacefully during the election and Supreme Court verdict and expressed delight, but cautioned Ghanaians “not to look down on the judges” who gave the verdict, but respect them since they were neutral and referees in settling electoral dispute.

He said entreated adherersof religion particularly Christian and Muslims to continuously pray for peace to prevail in the country.

Said the Bishop: “peace is God’s gift to man, which is different from what the world gives.” He added that the peace in the country was the fruit of the prayers Ghanaians offered.

He urged citizens to live in peace with themselves, their families and the environment through conservation.  

The Bishop said by resorting to the Supreme Court,Ghana has shown that people could live peacefully even though they disagree and have their differences, noting that it was a healthy sign democracy the country’s was growing.

He cited the smooth transition of power from a sitting government to the opposition as a plus for the country, noting that the Supreme Court ruling has Ghana boosted the democratic credential of the country, which was a good example for other Africa countries to learn from.

He pleaded: We have only one Ghana so let’s work to engender greater national cohesion and peace in the country.

MEDEC

MEDEC champions environmental journalism

The Media Development Centre (MEDEC), a Non-Governmental Organisation has in collaboration with the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), launched a media capacity training programme christened ''Journalism Clinic'' for young media practitioners and trainees to develop interest in Environmental Journalism and effectively report on it.

The Clinic which would be organised thrice annually throughout the country, to sharpen the skills of Journalists to report more on environmental issues and varied areas of environment that were often under reported.   

Launching it in Accra, Mr. Richard Ellimah, Executive Director of the Centre for Social Impact Studies (CeSIS), said it was important for the media to focus their  attention more on other developmental areas including the environment, instead of concentrating on politics and sports to the neglect of other sectors.

He stated that the poor sanitation in the country was a reflection of a weak local government structure to tackle the challenge, which, he added, might make Ghana miss the Millennium Development Goal on reducing maternal mortality, environmental sustainability and access to water and sanitation.

Mr. Ellimah lamented that  most of our Journalists lacked the requisite academic background to comprehensively report on specialized fields including environment, health, natural resource extraction, finance and economic reporting and commended MEDEC for taking the initiative to build capacity for Journalists.

Welcoming the guest, Mr. Okunyin Boaz Orlan-Hackman, Executive Director of MEDEC, said the Organisation would help Journalists to specialise in the various fields.

He noted that the Clinic would assist Journalism Training Schools to adequately prepare students to focus more on developmental issues.

Mr. Fredrick Asiamah, Director of Communications and Partnerships of MEDEC, explained that his outfit would employ various media tools to promote grassroots development.

He said MEDEC intended to use workshop and field tours in its training and establish a database for Environmental Journalists in the country.

Dr. Messan Mawugbe, Managing Consultant, Centre for Media Analysis, challenged Journalists to be innovative and change the trend of Journalism in the country, by giving in-depth reporting on environment instead of depending on press releases.

He urged them to use simple language in their reportage to effectively communicate to their audience.

At the launch were some staff of Journalism Training Schools in Accra, and Journalists.

Speakers including Mr. Augustine Niber, Director of the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), Mr. Samuel Obri of the Centre for Scientific Research Institute and Mrs. Hannah Owusu Koranteng, Associate Executive of Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) as well as Mrs. Ama Kudom-Agyemang, Communication Consultant.

Among some topics discussed were Status of Environment and Resource Reporting;  Resource Extraction and Health: Pollution Factor; Human and Social Factors of Resource Extraction; Connecting Law and Environment and Importance of Environmental Reporting.