REPORTS FROM WA CATHOLIC DIOCESAN FEAST CELEBRATIONS.

On Thursday, November 30, 2019, the Catholic Diocese of Wa celebrated its diocesan feast (the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle). The celebration of this day has come to be closely associated with the celebration of jubilees of Priests, the Religious and Married Couples for attaining significant heights in their respective vocations. For the very first time since its inception, the Bishop deemed it appropriate to include the catechists.

As usual, the celebration took place in the context of a Eucharistic Celebration, presided over by His Grace, Most Rev. Richard Kuuia Baawobr, Bishop of Wa. The ceremony was also graced by their Graces, Most Rev. Paul Bemile and Gregory Ebo Kpiebeyaa, Bishop Emeritus of Wa and Arch Bishop Emeritus of Tamale respectively.

In his welcome address, the Cathedral Administrator, Very Rev. Fr. Patrick Segpkeb, mentioned among other things that the celebration was also meant to commemorate the 90^th anniversary of the first mass that was celebrated in Lawra by Rev. Fr. Remigious F. McCoy, M. Afr. He further indicated that the Diocese was honoring 40 jubilerians across the three main vocations. He gave the breakdown as follows: twenty-one couples, eight diocesan priests, one religious priest, three male religious and seven female religious.

In his homily, Bishop Richard acknowledged and thanked his predecessors who were present at the celebration (Arch Bishop and Bishop Gregory and Paul respectively) for nurturing the seed of faith originally sown by Fr. McCoy and watered by Cardinal Porekuu Dery, Servant of God of blessed memory. He also mentioned that by virtue of our baptism, every catholic is a missionary, therefore it is incumbent on all the faithful gathered to take the proclamation of the word of God seriously. He added that the call to holiness was not exclusively reserved for only priests and religious but our common baptism enjoins all of us to live holy lives in whatever sphere of life or vocation we find ourselves and to radiate the joy of the Gospel.  Touching briefly on the life of St. Andrew, the Bishop admonished the faithful to emulate the worthy examples of the Saint: notably we should strive to have a personal encounter with Christ, we should be attentive to the needs of other people and last but not least, we should aid others to respond to the call of Christ by fostering and facilitating the conversion of their hearts and minds. The bishop couldn’t have ended his homily without throwing a challenge to the whole diocese. He exhorted everyone to make projections into the foreseeable future and answer this question for ourselves: “where do we want to see ourselves as a people in ten years’ time when the diocese will be marking its 100^th anniversary.”?

After the homily, all the “jubilerians” were invited to come forward and renew their marital, religious and priestly commitments after which the Bishop blessed them, congratulated all of them and wished them well in the pursuit of fulfillment in their respective vocations.

The occasion brought together scores of people: priests and religious from within and outside the diocese, catechists, married couples, families, friends and well-wishers of the “jubilerians” and other people of goodwill. There was light refreshment at the end after which everyone dispersed.