Sekondi-Takoradi, 20 November, 2019 / 2:25 am (ACI Africa).
As the Church marked the third World Day of the Poor initiated by Pope Francis through his Apostolic Letter, ‘Misericordia et Misera’, delegates of a charitable and devotional group of Catholic men, women and children in the West African country of Ghana have been encouraged to reach out to the poor in their immediate surroundings, including the sick and suffering who are struggling to keep hope alive.
“Keep the poor alive in your minds and help make life easier for those suffering and (the) sick,” the Archbishop of Accra, John Bonaventure Kwofie said Sunday, November 17 at the Our Lady Star of the Sea Cathedral in Ghana’s Sekondi-Takoradi during the thanksgiving Mass of the 8th Biennial National Delegates Congress of the St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Society.
“Let’s not forget the sick in our families, homes, neighborhoods, workplaces and those abandoned at the hospital,” added Archbishop Kwofie who is also the Apostolic Administrator of Sekondi-Takoradi diocese.
Reflecting on Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Misericordia et Misera in which he calls on everyone to be merciful and practice forgiveness in the manner taught to Christians by our Lord Jesus Christ in the Lord's prayer, Archbishop Kwofie noted, “The Holy Father emphasized the need to be merciful to the poor and admonished all and Christians in particular to remain faithful to the Lord's teaching on the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.”
Further, the Ghanaian Prelate reminded the Christians of the Holy Father's observation that "the social character of mercy demands that we not simply stand by and do nothing … it requires us to banish indifference and hypocrisy."
