St. Paul's Catholic Church celebrates 65th anniversary

Accra, Feb. 28, GNA - The Saint Paul's Catholic Church at Kpeheh in Accra on Sunday climaxed the celebrations of its 65th anniversary with a call on Christians to be true representatives of Christ by leading righteous lives. This according to Most Reverend Leon Kalenga, Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, would not only let people speak well of Christianity but also draw more people to the faith.

Most Rev. Kalenga, who was speaking at a thanksgiving service held by the church, also appealed to Catholics to attach importance to the observance of the Lent (a forty day fasting and prayer season for Catholics). "This Lent that we have started should afford us all an opportunity to return to righteousness so as to experience God's abundant grace," he said. The Apostolic Nuncio advised Catholics to be weary of the devil during Lent since it was the time that he usually would like to tempt them. "I will urge you to be always on the watch out for the temptations of the devil. He did not tempt Jesus until He decided to fast and so will he try to do to you," he advised.

He urged Christians to always draw from the compassion of God by always going to him in prayers.

He praised the founding fathers of the Kpeheh church for the initiative and urged them to draw more faith for Christ and the Catholic Church. In a brief history of the church, Very Rev. Francis Adoboli, Parish Priest of Saint Paul's Catholic Church said the parish, which started in 1945 with only 25 members in a rented house, now had a population of over 3,000.

He attributed the rise in congregation to the desire of the founding fathers to win more souls for Christ. He praised the parish for instituting an educational fund to cater for the needy but brilliant students in the church. "Our belief in education has been manifested in the institution of an educational assistance fund, which supports not less than 30 students in basic, secondary and tertiary institutions," he added. The theme for the anniversary celebrations was "A new life in Christ" taken from Colossians 3:1.