The Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sunyani and the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, preached a Lenten Recollection for Men and Women Religious living and working in the Sunyani Diocese. Among them were many Sisters from congregations in the Diocese.
The programme took place on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at Nsuatre, Amanfoso Grotto in the Sunyani Diocese.
The Bishop engaged in a thoughtful reflection with the Religious about the concept of pride, which he considered “the mother of all sins”.
He exhorted the Religious Men and Women to accept the reality of sin; if not, they were never going to find the reality of life.
He referred to pride as the mother of all sins because he opined that from pride come the other sins. “It is only pride that walks all time, pride never sleeps”.
Recalling a retreat that was conducted many years ago by his retreat director, Bishop Gyamfi mentioned that among the three vows taken by the Religious, the most difficult of them all is the vow of obedience because disobedience is deep in our nature.
For he said to give a Religious or a Priest freedom meant you would have problems with pride. He said that pride is very common and it is part of our being. He added that the sin of the fallen angels is pride.
Taking the definition of pride from the dictionary, he explained pride as inordinate self-esteem, an unreasonable conceit of supremacy, and conceit as excessive self-esteem.
He admonished that there is nothing wrong with reasonable self-esteem, but when it becomes excessive, it is termed pride. Quoting St. John, he stated that “pride is basically a lie and humility is the truth”. He added that to say that consecrated men are committed to their work is humility, but to say that only consecrated men and women are committed to their duties is pride.
He emphasized that pride is the root of all the problems that are generated in the convents. Starting from disobedience of the superiors to looking down on the labourer.
He also called it pride, those who think they are doing better than others, or earning higher salaries than others. He also advised the religious to desist from the desire to be addressed with titles. Just be what you are, a consecrated woman or man, he added.
Furthermore, His Excellency admonished his audience to learn the humility of Jesus Christ, following in his footsteps, learning to be symbols of peace without inordinate self-esteem.
He noted that they would be much happier if they eschew the desire for inordinate self-esteem, advising that “Unless we empty ourselves of pride and replace it with humble service as Jesus did, our consecration will only be in name.”
By Sr. Esther Kutie, SVI (Catholic Sister Communicators Network- Ghana-CASCON-GH)
