Banished into fame — A reaction

Simon Attigah and Very Rev. Fr. Raymond Osei-Tutu Opinion Jun - 02 - 2014 , 10:15

We refer to an article on page 17 of the Daily Graphic of March 8, 2014 with headline: “Banished into Fame: the 20-year-old story of CEM” .

There are factual inaccuracies in the article which this rejoinder seeks to correct to set the records straight.

The writer postulates that the Legon Catholic Charismatic Renewal was started by Reverends Stephen Mensah and Stanley Mensah, General Overseer and Deputy General Overseer, respectively of the Charismatic Evangelistic Ministry (CEM).

This is far from the truth. The Catholic Charismatic Renewal already existed at the Legon Chaplaincy of the Catholic Church, before the two brothers made their initial fellowship encounter with the group in the late 1980s. Indeed, the Legon Catholic Charismatic Renewal had its antecedents in the Holy Spirit Prayer Group started at Legon in 1972 with the active support of the then chaplain, Rev. Fr Koster. It was part of the initial streams of the renewal.

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) in the Accra Archdiocese of the church started at the Holy Spirit Cathedral on March 23, 1978 and soon decentralised into parishes and stations including the Legon Chaplaincy.

Founded at the Catholic University of Duquesne, Pennysylvania, USA, in February 1967, the CCR came to Ghana through one Rev. Father Ernest Sievers and two medical mission sisters who eventually set up a Centre for Spiritual Renewal at Bomso, outside the gates of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in 1974.

Six Catholic students of the KNUST who had experienced the CCR at the centre later introduced it in Accra in 1978.

Reasons

Giving reasons why the Legon Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Mensah’s parted ways, the article states among other things: “They (the Mensahs, emphasis ours) taught the gospel from the Bible and not from the Catholic Missal, and above all they evangelised. That was deviating from the Catholic way!”

This ridiculously misleading statement tends to suggest that the Catholic Church teaches the Gospel from the Catholic Missal instead of the Bible, and does not evangelise.

Even though the Catholic Missal contains extracts from the Bible, it is essentially a liturgical service guide. The core ecclesiastical work of the church from inception has always been evangelisation and winning souls for Christ.

The church cannot therefore, ‘’be troubled by the evangelism drive of the two’’ as they claim. Without evangelism, the Catholic Church would not have spread to the four corners of the world as it has. And the bedrock of the Catholic faith is primarily the Holy Scriptures and tradition, which are the only authentic sources of the church’s evangelisation efforts.

The notion that the Catholic Church was teaching the gospel from the Catholic Missal is an affront to all that is decent and truthful.

Banishment

The antecedent of the two brothers’ encounter with the Legon CCR was a response to an invitation to them to perform at a musical programme organised by the Legon Charismatic Renewal.

Having performed commendably, and enjoyed much admiration, they hence regularly participated in weekly prayer meetings. But after some time, they started preaching anti-Catholic messages which created much concern among their admirers.

This led to their being invited to meet with the leadership of the CCR at the Holy Spirit Cathedral and they were cautioned, but this yielded no result.

As part of the corrective measures, in August 1989, the then Archbishop of Accra, late Archbishop Dominic Andoh in consultation with the Parish Priest (Fr. Joseph Osei Bonsu, now Bishop of Konogo-Mampong Diocese) and Parish Pastoral Council of the Legon Catholic Chaplaincy under the leadership of Prof.

Patrick Twumasi set up a committee headed by Prof. Kofi Kumado to make recommendations for the re-organisation of the Legon Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

The main recommendation of the committee was to maintain the Catholic character of the prayer group and ensure that the leaders were guided by the guidelines issued for the CCR by the National Catholic Bishops Conference.

Unfortunately, the recommendations of the committee did little to resolve the problems of the prayer group.

Given the persistent flouting of the rules of the church in the name of spirituality, the coordinator of the Renewal at the time convened an emergency meeting of the executive for the sole purpose of determining whether they were still Catholics or not.

At the meeting, five of the executive members declared that they were no longer Catholics. That number included Steve and Stanley among others. Given the situation, it was clear that something was wrong with non-Catholics being in the leadership of a Catholic group. Conflicts were bound to arise.

In the circumstances, at the next prayer meeting, the coordinator announced the dissolution of the executive since it was clear that they could no longer justify their continued leadership of the CCR.

At that prayer meeting, Steve announced that they were no longer part of the CCR and that with effect from the following Sunday, they would continue as a non-Catholic group.

A few of the members who decided to remain Catholics continued with the Renewal. That Renewal has grown from strength to strength and today is a force to reckon with in Christianity.

Assets

Meanwhile, the breakaway group took with them the assets of the CCR – including their musical instruments and bus and started working as a non-denominational fellowship at the Central Cafeteria. These assets were eventually retrieved by the Legon CCR, the bona fide owners.

It must be emphasised that no one was banished from the church. To claim that the CEM was ‘’banished into fame’’ is far from the truth. It is a joy to know that CEM has come into fame.

Not surprising. We believe that preaching the gospel from the Bible is not meant to make the preachers famous but for Christ to be lifted up. But if they believe that they have come into fame, that alone tells their motive from the very beginning.

The Catholic Church and especially, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal does not begrudge the “fame” of the CEM. Indeed, we congratulate them for that fame. But we believe that the foundation of Christianity must be truth as the Bible they claim they preach from states categorically, we should worship in Spirit and in Truth.

They are entitled to their fame. But they should ensure that the foundation of that fame is truth. “Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked…” (Gal. 6:7). And please remember, the devil is the father of all lies.

We hope that this rejoinder will be published to debunk any untruths in the article referred to in your paper of March 8, 2014.

The writer’s are archdiocesan co-ordinator and spiritual director respectively of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal