In an effort to intensify the Evangelisation Mission of the Church and to continue the Missionary work after the Extraordinary Mission Month declared by Pope Francis, the newly created Mission Office of the Accra Archdiocese in the Capital City of Ghana, has put a special initiative of organising a Book Fair, an innovative way of creating missionary awareness.
“The Book is intended to create an environment where people can come together and have a healthy dialogue among themselves,” said Fr. John Patrick Tindana, Director of the Accra Archdiocesan Mission Office.
The Book Fair is open to all and sundry, he stated, saying that “There would be books for adults, teens, children, professionals. It shall take place from parish to parish, and the first to kick-start would be Christ the King Catholic Church, Cantonments, Accra on Sunday, December 8, 2019 from 6:00 am to 1:00 pm.” At the end of the day, it is hoped that missionary awareness would increase, especially among Catholics, he added.
“The manifest point of attraction would be the books, but latently the organisers would create opportunities for dialogue centred on mission,” Fr. Tindana said.
According to him, “The books are both new and old donated by people of faith.” Fr. Tindana explained that the Books, would be sold at drastically at reduced prices in order to raise funds to support the newly created Mission Office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra.”
Several Books have been donated by Priests, Religious and Lay faithful to support the Book including were Sr. Domitilla Amissah-Mensah, Superior of the Handmaids of Divine Redeemer (HDR) Sisters, Accra, Rev. Fr. Kpanie Addy, SJ, the Director of Arrupe Jesuit Institute and the Dadzie family of Accra.
According to the donors, they “see the donation as their Christian duty to get involved in the missionary activities of the Church. Therefore will do all they can to support any initiative that creates missionary awareness.”
Explaining the roles of the Mission office, Fr. Tindana “This new office was created by Archbishop John Bonaventure Kwofie of Accra to spearhead the missionary activities of the Church, he explained, saying that “The Church must move out and must be made visible, and this can be realized if there is a systematic way of doing that. This will be done through various initiatives to be undertaken by the Mission Office.”
Fr. Tindana noted that “The office has plans of printing educational materials, move into various public places to share the good news, disseminate church documents on mission, remind people to join the Pope in prayer through his monthly intentions.”
In a note creating the Mission Office, Archbishop Kwofie, said Pope Francis wrote “John Paul asked us to recognise that there must be no lessening of the impetus to preach the Gospel to those who are far from Christ because this is the first task of the Church.”
The Archbishop said “each member of the Church participates in this call through prayer, missionary engagement, financial solidarity or any means within this disposal to enable the Church reach those who are far from Christ.” The Mission Office is the special organ our Archdiocese to help us reach this objective, he added.
Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Accra in another dimension of championing Mission work in the Archdiocese of Accra, has put together an ecumenical event of singing and reflection dubbed: “Conversation in the Cathedral, “slated for Wednesday, December 11 at 5:30pm.
In an invitation letter to Priests, Religious and Lay faithful in Accra, Archbishop Kwofie said “This maiden event is aimed to bring together secular and religious leaders and indeed, all people of goodwill to praise and reflect in a serene and friendly atmosphere on the event of Christmas and how it contributes to our personal spiritual growth and to building a more humane society in our beloved country.”
“We shall also use the occasion to thanks God for the year 2019 and implore His abundant blessings on us for the year 2020,” he added.
Source: Damian Avevor
