Ho, Nov. 14, - Most Reverend
Philip Naameh, President, Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) and
Archbishop of Tamale has observed that the concept of bride price in the
country had been taken out of its original traditional context and becoming
increasingly monetarized.
He said consequently, the expense
of marrying “properly” according to traditional rules had become burdensome for
the average man seeking the hand of a woman in marriage.
Archbishop Naameh made the
observation at the opening of this year’s plenary assembly of the Ghana
Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Ho on the theme, “Integral Pastoral Care for
the Family in the light of Amoris Laetitia.”
He said coupled with that, was
the confusion surrounding the ceremony of traditional marriage, which “properly
subsists” in the exchange of gifts in a ceremonial meetings of the parties and
their extended families, now known as engagement, occasioning duplication of
rites and costs.
Archbishop Naameh said the
practice was distorting the relationship between the character of traditional
and church marriage and called for an “inculturation of Christian marriage in
the Ghanaian church to preserve a more reflected convention of culture and
faith.”
He also called on government to
partner the church to provide affordable housing packages to young couples,
especially families with disabled children to keep peace, unity and love in the
family and charged churches to show love to homosexual unions.
Archbishop Naameh said though
individuals engaged in such marriages which did not satisfy God’s intention for
creating man and woman, they could not be deprived of God’s love.
“Homosexuals are human beings.
They are our relations,” so, “…the way of the Church is not to condemn anyone
forever; it is to pour out balm of
God’s mercy on all those who ask for it with a sincere heart…For true
charity is always unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous,” he stated.
Archbishop Naameh also noted that
fixation on sexual functionality among the youth and the desire to be “sexy”
were compelling middle-aged men to abuse advertised alcoholic beverages, which
was leading to collapse of marriages as a result of dissatisfaction with
sexuality between partners.
He said most troubling was the
long standing traditional stigma associated with infertility and the absence of
biological children in marriage and called for “pastoral care and support” for
such families, saying, “Let’s be merciful and sympathetic when we encounter
families that are not ideal”.
Dr Archibad Yao Letsa, the Volta
Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf, commended the Catholic
Church for its “impressive” contributions to the development of the Volta
Region and Ghana.
He said government was dependent
on the Church to spearhead the revolution for moral and social transformation
in the country because the moral decadence in society was continuously
worsening.
Dr. Letsa said families and the
Church were the basic units of society and charged them to take bold measures
to nip the social cancer of indiscipline in the bud.
Archbishop Jean Marie Speich, the
Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, urged the Church to respond to challenges being
faced by families and not just lament about the situation.
GNA
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