Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, the Catholic Bishop of Ho, has shared his deep concern regarding the growing influence of pentecostalism within the Catholic Church, emphasizing that this trend has resulted in the gradual disappearance of numerous cherished Catholic devotions from various church settings.
He explained that Catholic devotions were particular customs and acts of worship to God and in honour of the saints that were observed in addition to the liturgy of the church.
Those devotions, he said, were the manifestation of the church’s profound love for God, rooted in service and worship to God and also an expression of readiness to give honour and glory to God whether in public or in private prayer.
“Therefore, these devotions should not be seen as outmoded or irrelevant to the contemporary Catholic.
They remain forms of Catholic spirituality that can enhance our encounter with God and bring us closer as a community in prayer,” he said.
Most Rev. Fianu, who doubles as the Vice-President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, was giving a lecture at this year’s Biennial Marshall Moreau Murat Memorial Lecture, which was held at the Christ the King Parish Hall in Accra last Friday.
In his lecture, he proposed some spiritual pathways that, he believed, contemporary Christians had abandoned and needed to be rediscovered and reused.
The two-day lecture was held on the theme: “The Quest of a Christian for Spirituality- Some Pathways for Catholics and Marshallans in Particular”.
The Biennial Marshall Moreau Murat Memorial lecture was instituted in 1989 by the Noble Order of Knights of Marshall in Memory of Sir James Marshall, a Scotsman who served as Chief Justice in the then Gold Coast, after whom the Noble Order was named.
Minimalism
The bishop observed that many contemporary Catholics had become minimalists and preferred to go to where Christianity was less demanding.
“Some Catholics find the church too demanding so they prefer to go where Christianity sounds less demanding but if we read the scriptures carefully and study the teachings of the church, we have to conclude that minimalism has no place in the church.
We have some uncommitted Catholics who have no time for catechesis, workshops, seminars, recollections and retreats, among others.
So this fight against minimalism in the church eludes them,” Most Rev. Fianu said.
He said the knowledge of God that such people had was just the basics of the Christian faith and they did little to progress from there.
“Such minimalists are just proud to attend Mass on Sundays and pay their monthly dues but nothing more because they only believe that their dues card must be in order,” he said.
Such minimalist Catholics, he said, needed to read the scriptures and discuss good Catholic writings in order to know more about God.
Most Rev. Fianu urged them to put the little knowledge that they had into practice and gain practical experience of what it meant to believe in God.
For those who were continuous learners and dynamic Catholics, Most Rev. Fianu said they welcomed opportunities to know and loved God as well as the church more and always sought to become the best versions of themselves.
He explained that a dynamic Catholic had a regulated prayer pattern, was committed to continuous learning, was very generous with his or her time, and committed to sharing the beauty of the Christian faith with others.
He further said the church as a whole must be prepared to make Catholic learning materials easily available so that the faithful could obtain the knowledge they needed and grow in faith.
“We must also use the mass media to disseminate catholic content and not limit ourselves to catechism hours and the sermons during Mass,” Most Rev Fianu said.