Use Sustaining Approach To Address Conflicts In N/R– Catholic Bishops

Archbishop C. G. Palmer-Buckle

The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, has adviced that government’s efforts at ensuring peace in the Northern Region, should be aimed at a more holistic and sustaining approach in addressing the very factors that fuel the conflicts.

The Conference, observed that since peace was the new name for development, in seeking the development of the region, the need for sustainable peace could not be overlooked, especially in this season of elections.

It therefore, commended successive governments and various non-governmental, civil society and faith-based organisations for their efforts of promoting peace in the Northern Region, a region perceived as most vulnerable to diverse conflicts.

“Unlike other parts of the world where religion is sometimes used to promote and sustain conflict”, the Conference said “it is heartwarming to learn that, here in Tamale and elsewhere in Ghana, Muslims interact peacefully with Christians in schools, hospitals and various places of work.”

Most Reverend Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, read these statements contained in a communiqué issued at the just ended Plenary Assembly of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Tamale.  

Under the theme: “Reconciliation With God, Humanity and Nature in The Year of Mercy”, the Plenary Assembly which started on Saturday October 8 was brought to an end on October 14 with the celebration of an evening mass service at the OLA Cathedral Church in Tamale. 

During the Plenary Assembly, the Bishops deliberated on issues related to the church in Ghana as well as other issues of national concern particularly the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections. 

At the end of the Plenary Assembly, the Conference elected the Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale, Most Rev. Philip Naameh as its new President. He succeeded Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Bishop of Mampong Diocese who had been in office for six years.

 

The communiqué also commended the various security agencies for working towards security and peace in Ghana. “We urge them to discharge their duty with dispatch and without fear or favour. We encourage them to demonstrate a high sense of professionalism by respecting the rights and dignity of all Ghanaian citizens.

“The culture of impunity which has been manifested in sections of the Ghanaian society by some individuals and groups contributes to high levels of lawlessness in the country. We condemn in no uncertain terms, the sycophancy and the operations of unauthorised vigilante groups”, it stressed. 

Meanwhile, the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference is a religious organisation having its legal foundation in the Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church, which applies to all Catholic Churches of the Roman Rite throughout the world. 

The Bishops' Conference, according to the Canon Law of the Catholic Church (Canon 447-459), is the central Body of the Church in Ghana. Its purpose is to deliberate on matters of concern to the Church in Ghana and to encourage activities in accordance with the needs of the times.