Ghanaian Bishop Blames Dwindling Catholic Population to Lack of Zeal among Priests

He added, “The purpose and dimensions of Priestly formation should be more Mission-oriented in such a way that future priests become true disciples of Christ with a great passion for winning souls for Christ.”

The Bishop said that human, pastoral, and intellectual formation should be prioritized right from the seminary to awaken the fire of missionary zeal.

He said that human formation should focus more keenly on identifying the communion deficiency areas of the lives of individual seminarians, such as their character.

One of the personalities to address among seminarians during formation is introversion, he said, and added, “Pastoral and intellectual formation should pay closer attention to making future priests ardent agents of promoting fellowship among the faithful of Christ.”

“We should be trained so that when we are out, we are on fire to make people feel they belong to the Church,” he said.

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The Bishop who was appointed alongside Bishop  Anthony Narh Asare in February last year to assist Archbishop John Bonaventure Kwofie in shepherding the archdiocese also underscored the need to also form the laity for evangelization.

“Pastoral formation in particular should be redesigned in such a way that there is emphasis on forming future priests to become trainers of the lay faithful in practical skills for primary evangelizing,” he said.

Underlining the need for “mission” which he described as “the very flavor of the substance of priestly formation,” the Ghanaian Bishop urged the traditional key agents of priestly formation including Bishops, rectors, and formators, to come out of their comfort zone and instill Christ-oriented mission in the seminarians.

Bishop Louis said that seminarians should be aided to appreciate the divine origin of their vocation better to “nurture a closer relationship with the communion of divine presence as disciples of Jesus.”

The auxiliary Bishop of Ghana’s Accra Archdiocese said that when seminarians appreciate the divine origin of priesthood from their formation, “they will not take the priesthood as a career but truly as a call from God.”