Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, President, Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Monday December 24, 2012.
The
changing phase of Christmas celebrations has attracted the criticism of the
Catholic Bishops Conference.
They
say that “In our secular world of today, Christmas seems to be for many people
only an occasion for enjoying themselves and for family reunions.”
In their
Christmas and New Year message, Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, President, Ghana
Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Bishop of Konongo-Mampong said “The feast of
Christmas these days has been so commercialized and secularized that many
people have lost sight of its religious significance.”
“Christmas
marks the birth of Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world. When humankind lost God’s favour because of
sin, it took Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection to restore the
broken relationship between man and God.”
The
message said “the birth of Christ at Christmas marked the beginning of the
process of restoration of the broken relationship. It marked the beginning of the process of
humankind’s salvation.”
The
Bishops said that “in the birth of Christ, God came to be with us not just in
spirit but in the flesh. For this
reason, Christ is said to be Immanuel, which means ‘God with us’.
Christmas is about the incarnation, about God
taking on human flesh, about God becoming a human being.”
“It
is more than two thousand years since Christ left us physically for heaven, yet
the peace that he spoke of remains an elusive phenomenon in our world
today. We live in a world beset by all
kinds of problems, including wars, even in the Middle East, the birthplace of
the Prince of Peace,” the Bishops bemoaned.
“In
our own country right now, we are facing severe post-election challenges. Members of rival political parties have been
attacked. Innocent people, including journalists and other media personnel,
doing their work have also suffered attacks.
I call on our political leaders, especially those of the two major
parties, the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party, to talk
to their supporters to put an end to all violence. I appeal to all priests, ministers, pastors
and all other religious leaders to let the message of peace be part of their
preaching in the next few weeks.”
The
Bishops said that the time had come for every Ghanaian to make peace a reality,
adding “We should always remember that we have only one country called Ghana
and that this country is the only home that we have.”
“We do not want to share in the unpleasant experience of the
people living in countries where there are conflicts”, adding “We do not want
to be refugees in our neighbouring countries.”
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