Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Navrongo (Agenzia Fides)- “Every Jubilee is an opportune occasion to look at the past with gratitude, to the present with joy, to the future with hope” said Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, in his homily during Mass to close celebrations for the Evangelisation Centenary in northern Ghana, today 23 April in the cathedral of Navrongo. Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Dias his Special Envoy to close a year of centenary celebrations (see Fides 21 April 2007).
“I am happy to return to Ghana, which was my first love as Apostolic Pro-Nuncio 25 years ago” Cardinal Dias said. “Looking at the past our hearts are filled with gratitude for the countless graces God has deigned to pour out on northern Ghana in the past hundred years”.
Among the many missionaries to this part of the world the Cardinal Prefect recalled in particular three Missionaries of Africa, White Fathers, Fr. Jean-Marie Chollet, Fr. Oscar Morin and Brother Eugene Gall, who reached Navrongo from Burkina Faso in 1906 and began to evangelise the people there. “The diary of these pioneer missionaries tells of the joy and enthusiasm which reigned in the midst of their simple and humble surroundings, and of the initial setbacks they had as they started to settle in their newly adopted homeland. The missionaries, in fact, had to face many hurdles - political, social, economic, cultural, religious and others - but with patience and perseverance they overcame them all, so that the seed of the Gospel which they sowed with toil and tears did not die, but survived, sprouted and began to bear fruit, and continues to do so even to this day” he said.
Cardinal Dias underlined that the missionary founders of the Church in northern Ghana commenced evangelisation: “They preached the Gospel to all, without any discrimination whatsoever, their only aim being to unite the ethnic groups and to motivate them to live together in peace and harmony.”. Besides the founding Fathers Cardinal Dias recalled “ We also pay tribute to the many priests who came after the first pioneers, and the religious women and the catechists who teamed up with them and are doing so even today in an admirable manner, and gave credibility to the message they proclaimed. We cannot forget those who died, even violently, while carrying out their noble mission of preaching the Good News. They are our intercessors in heaven and may the blood they have shed for Christ’s sake be the seed of new Christians”.
After entrusting Ghana, its leaders and its people to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Cardinal Dias imparted the Apostolic Blessing. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 23/4/2007 righe 40 parole 504)
