RECOWA Vice President Cautions against Abuse of Inculturation in Liturgical Celebrations

Accra, 16 January, 2026 / 4:40 PM

The Vice President of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA) has cautioned Priests, Seminary Formators, and Rectors in West Africa against the misuse of inculturation, warning that some practices being introduced in the Liturgy in the name of culture undermine ecclesial authority.

In his Thursday, January 15 speech at the opening of the 12th RECOWA Rectors’ Conference at St.Paul’s Catholic Seminary, Sowutuom of West Africa, Bishop Joseph Kwaku Afrifah-Agyekum of Ghana’s Catholic Diocese of Koforidua said that inculturation is an important pastoral principle that should be used with moderation.

“We try to use this word inculturation and so forth, but we forget that these principles that are stated in the inculturation   have also limitations, and often it’s not always the Priest who has the final authority, but rather it rests on the authority of the Bishop,” the Vice President of RECOWA said at the four day event which is set to end on January 17.

The Catholic Bishop expressed concern over some of the practices introduced by some Priests that lack clear theological or liturgical grounding.

“A lot of Priests are doing things that sometimes you don’t even know where they got them from. We see video clips on social media of things, as if we are just performing arts. Introducing kinds of things that often even the Bishops are not aware of,” the Bishop said.

The Bishop questioned the origin of some of the innovations being introduced in the Church by certain Priests, who he said justify their conduct by claiming that what they do pleases the people.

“It's not what the people like, but what the church asks you to do,” he emphasized at the event that is being held on the theme, “Building on a Rock: A Solid and a Holistic Formation.”

The RECOWA Vice President underscored the important role of seminaries in shaping future Priests, particularly in the celebration of the liturgy and sacraments, urging the Rectors and the Formators to act as a good example to the Seminarians.

“You are Rectors of the seminaries, you have to be mindful of how the liturgy, the sacraments are celebrated in the seminary because that is what they see. For example, if a Priest in the seminary, a Formator, does not mind how they celebrate the Eucharist, it becomes a problem because that is what the young people are going to learn,” the Bishop said.

“The seminary formation should be the first place where our young people should know how to celebrate these sacraments and understand the tradition and authority of the church. I want us to try as much as possible to remember to build our young people into growing into this,” he added.

Drawing from his personal experience from the National Liturgical Commission and the RECOWA Episcopal Commission for Liturgy, he noted that concerns about liturgical celebrations have been persistent across the region.

The Bishop lamented that some newly ordained Priests behave as though ordination grants them unrestricted freedom.

He noted that the National Liturgical Commission of Ghana has been addressing “liturgical elaborations and liturgical infractions” concerns by presenting papers to the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC), calling for concrete measures to address liturgical abuses.