A Catholic bishop has expressed worry about how charismatic and Pentecostal churches are becoming more attractive to Catholics in Ghana.
“For Catholics who remain Catholics and yet keep running after Jesus, from one to another crusade or fellowship or prayer camp, I am afraid their faith can only be described as a mirage,” Bishop Gabriel Akwasi Ababio Mante of Jasikan said at the launch of the 25th anniversary celebrations for the Diocese of Keta-Akatsi.
“We hope Catholics who have abandoned their faith and left the Church to join these movements are following the dictates of their conscience,” the bishop is reported to have said by CruxNow portal.
Bishop Mante stated it is mainly the youth who are easily enticed to leave the Catholic Church.
“This is also the chasing of a mirage,” he said. These people “are crippling their own faith, and all I want to say to them is rise up and walk with the diocese in the promotion of the kingdom of God.”
Mante stressed that, sometimes, people who have left the Church return home and want “to be acknowledged and recognized as Catholics, especially when they are in difficulty.” Sometimes Catholic priests are their only resource for assistance, he said. The bishop added that, if the family requests a Catholic burial for these people, priests will grant their wish.
He also cited the challenge of traditional religions, noting that some people claim to practice these religions as well as Catholicism. Such multiple allegiances impede the faith, he said.
Source: Daily Mail GH with additional files from Crux Now
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