It was all excitement, with songs of praises, drumming and dancing at the St John the Evangelist Catholic Church at Fafraha, Adenta in Accra, when the Parish Priest of the church, Rev. Fr Edmund Donkor-Baine, marked his 25th priestly ordination at a thanksgiving Mass.

The enthusiastic parishioners began a procession near the Victory Presby Church at Fafraha into the churchy premises, led by the brass band of the junior Marshallans and their St John counterparts of the Parish.

Euphoria

Most of the parishioners were clad in all white, while others wore the church’s cloth, in a joyous street procession into a carnival, while the celebrant was driven in a pickup vehicle, where he intermittently waved his white handkerchief to acknowledge the cheers.

The ‘Borborbo’ troupe of the St Michael Society of the church set the whole place agog as they took to the floor to lead the offertory processing.

The dancers got almost everybody on their feet to dance along, including the over 10 co-celebrants of the Mass.

On the church premises, the Knights of St John International and Ladies Auxiliary mounted a guard of honour, which was reviewed by Rev. Fr Donkor-Baine, with the brass band in attendance.

The homely was delivered by the Parish Priest of St George Catholic Church at the Ghana Police Depot, Rev. Fr Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) George Arthur.

He congratulated Rev. Fr Donkor-Baine on availing himself to be used by God in His vineyard.

He advised him to operate an open-door policy and treat parishioners with care and respect, not lord over them and accept constructive criticism for the growth of the church.

Rev. Fr Arthur called on priests in the church to do more research and read more to understand the Bible to make a meaningful impact on the congregation.

Youth

He called on the church to intensify the teaching of catechism to the youth to give them the needed foundation to grow up to be good Christians and responsible leaders.

“Let us go out and teach catechism to our youth so that they will be grounded in the Catholic faith, and have good morals because the youth are the future leaders of the church, further leaders of our nation.

“My brother priest, I wish to remind you that the unguarded youth is a threat to the family, the church and the nation as a whole,” he stressed.

He said it was time to focus more on the youth by engaging them and giving them roles and responsibilities to perform in the church.

“It is time now to focus on the youth.

Let us give them their right place in the church and groom them as future leaders of our communities, church and our dear motherland, Ghana,” Rev. Fr Arthur further stressed.

Rev. Fr Donkor-Baine, who presided over the Mass, was grateful to God for the gift of life that had enabled him to shepherd God’s flock for the past 25 years.

He also thanked the parishioners and all well-wishers and prayed for them for God’s special guidance and protection.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline