Catholic Church to play fatherly role to strengthen religious relations

Wa, May 15, GNA - Alhaji Issahaque Salia, Upper West Regional Minister, has appealed to the Catholic Church to play a fatherly role to unite all the different religious factions to bring peace and development to the country. The Church should expand beyond the Catholicism and be seen as a mediator concretizing and building bridges in communities where there were religious and cultural differences so as to ensure sustainable peace for development, her said. Alhaji Salia made the appeal when the newly appointment Catholic Bishop of Damongo, Most Reverend Peter Paul Angkyier, paid a courtesy call on him at his office on Sunday. He said the good thing that the church could achieve for the people and itself was to create conducive atmosphere for peace and happiness for development.

Most Reverend Angkyier in response said the Catholic Church was mindful of peace and therefore was working and fostering good relationships among different religions and cultural ethnic groups in the country. He however raised concern about political differences, which, he said, was disturbing the needed peace for development and that should not be over looked. "People who are concerned about the building of religious and cultural bridges should not also forget about political differences. We need to grow with political consciousness to secure peace for development" Most Reverend Angkyier said. Bishop Angkyier tasked political leaders to effectively exercise their role to ensure that issues of peace and development were their cardinal concern for others to emulate. Most Reverend Paul Bemile, Catholic Bishop of Wa, who introduced Bishop Angkyier to Alhaji Salia, said the Wa and Damongo Dioceses were twins and therefore had common objectives. He said Bishop Angkyier hailed from the region and had come home to receive blessings from the Church and the people. 15 May 11