A cross section of Ghanaian Catholics have appreciated their Bishops for not accepting wastage of public funds on a trip to Jerusalem.
Ghana government had reportedly offered to sponsor the Catholic Bishops’ trip to Jerusalem together with other religions’ leaders but the men of God vehemently refused the offer saying the money could be put to better use like fighting poverty in the country.
‘Our Bishops are realistic.’ said Nelson Ankrah, a Catholic peasant. ‘They saw that it would be a waste of public funds for them to travel to Jerusalem yet there are very many poor people in the country who need assistance.’
Nelly Anan, a Catholic school teacher said that it beats normal understanding for the government to offer to sponsor the Bishops a trip to Jerusalem when some government institutions lack funding. She said, ‘Some schools lack facilities and some government hospitals lack adequate drugs. Funds meant for the trip should be channeled to lacking institutions.’
Ghana Catholic Bishops opted out of a sponsored trip to Jerusalem saying that the government has no business organizing pilgrimages for Christians or any other group of religious adherents.
The President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops, Bishop Joseph Osei Bonsu, reportedly said that the money meant for the trip could be used in promoting lives of the poor citizens.
Bonsu said, ‘The money should be used for providing water and electricity to the poor. We cannot in all good conscience accept the offer when the resources could be put at the disposal of the poor in improving living conditions for them.’
Ghana’s minister of youths and sports Elvis Afriyie Ankrah invited leaders of the different Christian churches to elect members to join a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to be fully sponsored by the state. Among those invited were the Protestants,Catholics, Christian Council, the Ghana Pentecostal Council, the Ghana National Association of Christian and Charismatic Churches, the Council of Indigenous Churches.
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