The Catholic Bishop for Muenster Diocese in Germany has met with the Catholic Bishop and Priests of the Damongo Diocese to deliberate and discuss on the way forward between the partner Dioceses after forty years of TEPPCON partnership.
The meeting was held on Friday, 17th February, 2023 at the Unity Centre conference hall in Damongo.
In a brief remarks, the Catholic Bishop for Damongo, Most Rev. Peter Paul Y. Angkyier welcomed the Muenster Diocese delegation led by it’s Bishop who are on a partnership visit to the Damongo Diocese and remarked that their visit was historic after forty years of partnership between the two Dioceses and wished them well in their days in the Damongo Diocese.
Reporting on the partnership with the Damongo Diocese with the Muenster Diocese of Germany, the Diocesan partnership coordinator, Rev. Fr. Charles Dibin explained that, before the creation of the Diocese, St. Anne’s Cathedral, Tuna Good Shepherd Parish and Bole Martyrs of Uganda Parishes were already in partnership with the Muenster and Osnabreuck Dioceses of Germany together with other Parishes within the province through the hard work of then Bishop, Most Rev. Philip Naameh who worked so hard to create six additional parishes and subsequently got them twined with the Muenster Diocese.
Accordig to him, the current Bishop, Most Rev. Peter Paul Angkyier coming in to shepherd the diocese in 2011, continued the hard work in that regard and @40 in partnership with the Muenster Diocese, all thirteen Parishes within the Diocese have been twined.
Fr. Charles also explained that their partnership with thier Germany counterparts is anchored on their common faith as believers and followers of Christ Jesus their Saviour, adding that in their partnership, they will want to share that faith experience that they have in common and practiced in different but very rich cultures to help them grow.
He also added that, their partnership is on missionary collaborations to grow their mission in the dioceses of Muenster and Osnabrueck in Germany and that of the Tamale Ecclesiastical province here in Ghana.
He has also revealed that, the partners have helped many of the parishes in the Damongo Diocese to put up schools and has also recruited teachers to augment government’s efforts in staffing the schools and has also supported in aiding deprived children to benefit from the needy students fund and has also provided learning materials to schools and in some instances human resource.
He also disclosed that some new Presbyteries were partly financed by their partners to be built and old ones fully financed for renovation and has also supported the formation of pastoral agents such as Seminarians, Catechists and Prayer Leaders, Means of transport for pastoral work such as cars, motorbikes and bicycles were also purchased by some partner parishes in Germany to support the movement of pastoral agents in the diocese and provided some parishes with ICT facilities to help improve the knowledge of the children in those parishes.
He however appealed to the partners to consider their channel of communication and following the due processes put in place to help strengthen their partnership activities and concluded by adding that, the partnership has been beneficial to them as a diocese for all these 28 years of their existence as a diocese and also thanked all the individuals whose initiatives have sustained this partnership thus far and expecting better @50.
Some Partners have helped the aged with health insurance packages to enable them access healthcare Water and Sanitation: This has always been one of the most attended to areas from our Partners.
Many villages within the parishes, institutions within the parishes and many presbyteries have been supported to sink boreholes for the provision of portable water. In some cases villages have also been assisted to make some dams for gardening and provision of water for animals and sometimes human consumption.
The Catholic Bishop for Muenster, Most Rev. Dr. Felix Genn on his part expressed gratitude to the Bishop of Damongo and the priests for the warn hospitality given to him and his delegation from the Muenster Diocese and said, 40years of partnership is a great source of joy but also on a great possibility to reflect on the partnership between the two sister Dioceses in order to create a better future.
He further explained that the Catholic Church is rooted on the fundamentals of the apostles who talks about oneness and so, it does not really matter on the country one is coming from, but that, the most Important thing is for those who are listening to the word of God despite the traditional or cultural background or where they are coming from.
He noted that the call for oneness is the grand final of the vision of the Catholic Church which is rooted in different cultures and having people coming together from different languages and cultures as one people.
He further explained that what he has seen in Ghana in his visit demonstrates the basics for partnership and a seed where partnership can start growing and called for further collaborations between the two partner dioceses to help strengthen their faith not only financially but in their missionary work.
Source: Padfm.com.gh/Kumatey Gorden/0243531604
