The Most Rev. John Alphonse Asiedu, SVD, Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom, and responsible for Clergy and Consecrated Men and Women in Ghana, in a Keynote address delivered during the January 31, 2025 Opening Ceremony of the Jubilee Year Celebration for Consecrated People in Ghana, challenged Consecrated persons to be tangible signs of hope for people who experience hardships of any kind.
According to the Bishop, looking into the future with hope entails having enthusiasm for life and a readiness to share it, and consecrated persons are called to be at the forefront and to be strong advocates for a social covenant to support and foster hope and recover the joy of living.
“During this Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those who experience hardships of any kind: prisoners, the sick, young people, migrants, the elderly who frequently feel lonely and abandoned, the marginalized, the ‘Kayayes’ roaming our markets in search of survival, the beggars roaming in our cities and highways, the poor who often lack the essentials of life, and many more,” he entreated.
He added that Consecrated people are called to discover hope in the signs of the times that the Lord gives, and the desire for peace in our world should be the first sign of hope.
“The need for peace challenges us as consecrated persons and demands that concrete steps be taken to build peace in our world. The Jubilee Year therefore reminds us that those who are peacemakers will be called “children of God” (Mt. 5:9),” he noted.
His Lordship expressed the hope that the Jubilee Year should be for all Consecrated Persons, a year of Christ Himself, who came to fulfill the prophecy of hope to the world as he declared at the beginning of his ministry on earth that “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favour”(Lk. 4:18-19; Is. 61: 1-2).
The prelate drew the attention of all consecrated men and women, to the challenges faced by the Church “as a result of the moral shortcomings of each one of us”. He said that “a great number of our Catholic faithful have abandoned their faith or left the church completely with various reasons occasioned by secularism, the loss of credibility among clerics and us, consecrated people. I dare to say that the many scandals of corruption, financial mismanagement, abuse of power and sexual misconduct at various levels which have characterized many religious institutions in recent times distort the true essence of our vocation”.
For the earth to be renewed in its totality, according to Bishop Asiedu, all must be involved, no one should be left behind. “The more we are involved, the farther we go in this pilgrimage,” he stressed.
He further charged all consecrated persons to be concerned about the dangers posed by digital technology, and seek out concrete ways of addressing some of its excesses including the inappropriate and irresponsible use of the internet, social media platforms, and artificial intelligence, which he said have “adverse consequences for our personal lives and our interactions with people”.
“Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we cannot leave this place without concretely thinking of how to offer hope to ourselves and to our people amidst conflicts and prejudices, socioeconomic inequalities, racial and cultural discriminations, religious fanaticism and fundamentalism, wars and terrorism, human trafficking, all forms of abuses, pornography, political instabilities and vandalism, systemic corruption, illegal mining (Galamsey), pollution of our water bodies,” he urged.
The Prelate further urged that Consecrated persons, as pilgrims of hope, amidst the spiritual emptiness of present day society, characterized by the lack of faith among Christians, secularism, depletion of our forests and contamination of farmlands, littering the environment, the indiscriminate felling of trees (charcoal galamsey), and excessive quest for material possessions, among others, must strive to bring back God to the homes; “we really need to cry out to God once again with the fervent prayer: Lord, send down your spirit and renew the face of the earth,” he reiterated entreated.
“As consecrated persons following the Lord closely and more intimately, in all the activities marking the entire celebration of this Jubilee Year, we are being invited to be people of solidarity, people who promote justice, men and women exhibiting a renewed commitment to serving God with joy and in peace, upholding the integrity of creation based on the principles of Laudato Si and above all, people offering hope to our brothers and sisters who come to us seeking comfort and assurance, the people to whom we are sent as Pilgrims of Hope,” he underlined.
He prayed that the Consecrated people may bear faithful witness to the message of the Holy Year everywhere they find themselves and that the Jubilee Year be indeed a Holy Year of grace for each and everyone of them.
Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR (Sister Communicator \ DEPSOCOM, Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate)
