Catholics in the Damongo Diocese of the Savannah Region joined their counterparts worldwide on Sunday 20th November, 2022 to mark the feast of Christ the King at Kulmasa in the Sawla – Tuna – Kalba District.
The Feast was geared with activities including; entrepreneurship training for the youth, football games, volleyball game, Quizzes, Beauty Pageantry (Miss DADYC) which the Linbingsi deanery emerged winners for both the Quizzes and the Beauty Pageantry.
entrepreneurship training on Sobolo
The activities were meant to empower and motivate Catholic youths in the Diocese during the celebrations and climaxed with the ordination of a Deacon by the Bishop of Damongo Diocese.
According to church history, the Solemnity of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, commonly referred to as the Feast of Christ the King was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.
During the celebration, Catholics go on procession, singing praises, while a Priest carries the Eucharist in a monstrance to pray for peace.
The feast which started with a Holy Mass, was full of symbolic expressions of the royal status of Jesus Christ as the King of the universe.
In the sermon, the Bishop of the Damongo Diocese, Most Rev. Peter Paul Yelezuome Angkyier said, Christ as a universal king, has the solutions to all the problems of mankind adding that, celebrating his kingship is about leadership to all religious leaders to take up their responsibilities actively for the betterment of everybody.
The Bishop called on religious leaders and leaders of the country to distance themselves from bad leadership in the discourse of their duties. “In the history of God’s people not all the king’s who were chosen where faithful, some of them lived simply for themselves, they were bad leaders, Jesus lived His for the people and in total dedication to the people and God” he said.
According to the Bishop, the event is significant to every Christian and the nation at large saying, Jesus the true king lived his life in order to establish God’s kingdom and called on leaders of the country not to be selfish and greedy, but to live for others.
He noted that, if Ghana is suffering today, it is because people are selfish, greedy, having party and family interest in their responsibilities than any other thing “If Ghana is suffering it is because many leaders want to serve themselves, to serve their friends and to serve their party members and to serve their family members but that is not the purpose of leadership, the purpose of leadership is service to all” he added.
He further added that, the church serves as a point of contact to God when one is praying for his intervention in their activities and for his direction to enable them have good leaders and the miracles as they want in their lives.
He also said, the Catholic Bishops in Ghana in this difficult times expect that political leaders, civil leaders and religious leaders show an examplary life that, they are ready to suffer with the many people especially the poor and the marginalized.
He explained that, Jesus came to restore peace and unity between man and God and to also bring peace and harmony among all people noting that, in the kingdom of God there is no Gonja, Dagaare, Frafra, Ewe or Vagla as the are all one.
In the ordination of Rev. Rutilos Losya as a Deacon, the Bishop thank Rutilos for listening to the voice of God and subsequently accepting to follow Jesus through baptism, confirmation and the choice to be a priest to assist the Bishop and Priests in the ministry of the Word, liturgy and service of Charity.
The newly ordained Deacon, Rutilos Losya thanked each and everyone for the love and support given him during and after his training to become a deacon and called for support in the discharge of his duties to them as people of God.
Deacons are men set apart and dedicated to God for service to the church, through the laying on of hands and prayer, the gift of the Holy Spirit is confide on the candidate so that they may be effectively filled with the Holy Spirit for their ministry.
In an encounter with Most Rev. Peter Paul Y. Angkyier, he lamented on the fallen decrement of Catholics in Ghana to 10% in the 2021 population census and challenged the youth of the church not to move away from the doctrines of the Catholic church but put up initiatives that will attract people back to the church especially the youth.
In his interaction with the youth, some of the suggestions made by the youth of the diocese to bring more people into the church include;
- Visiting of the sick and aged at their parishes.
- Evangelization (preaching the word to the ends of the earth)
- Marrying in the church more to prevent the ladies from marrying outsiders.
- The use of Social media for proclamation and Evangelism since the world is now going digital.
- Reviving the Small Christian Communities in the various parishes to assist in places where the priests may not be able to.
The just ended Feast of Christ the King recorded about seven hundred and eighty – nine (789) youth coming from all thirteen parishes of the Damongo diocese, which is said to be the highest ever in the diocese of Damongo.
Source : Padfm.com.gh/ Gogu Edwin /0555588660
