Book on doctrines of Catholic Church launched
The Archbishop Emeritus of Kumasi, the Most Reverend Peter Kwasi Sarpong, has called on churches to exhibit tolerance and stop condemning the practices and beliefs of other denominations, particularly Islam and traditional religions.
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He said one major reason why there were ethnic hostility, arrogance and political animosity in the country was that most believers “see nothing good in other parties”.
“We should realise that never did Christ disdain the religion of his adversaries but went as far as praising some of them like the Syro-Phoenicians and the Samaritans,” Archbishop Sarpong said.
He was speaking at the launch of his book titled: “Archbishop Sarpong Explains Key Christian Topics” in Accra
About the book
The book deals with a variety of human experiences from religion with emphasis on the doctrines of the Catholic Church.
It also explains the intrinsic connection between the church and culture, the church and society, and the church as a promoter of political life.
The book further elaborates on the fact that even though there are agreements, the Catholic Church cannot just accept anybody as baptised, unless it is first sure that the person has actually been baptised according to the rites of his or her church.
Seven chapters of the 129-page book touch on topics such as: “In the defence of Catholic principles”, “Churches differ,” “In the defence of the sacraments,” In the defence of the Veneration of Saints, and “In the Defence of Papal infallibility.”
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The rest are: “The role of the Church in the Cultural Development of Ghana,” “The Ghanaian Church and Society” and “The role of the Church in the promotion of a good political life in Ghana.”
Archbishop Sarpong said the book focused on beliefs, practices and convictions of the Catholic faith, and tried to explain them with the Catholic insight for the sake of those who wanted to know the truth.
Ignorance
He said most of the troubles of the world were as a result of ignorance because “it makes people condemn and criticise people unjustly without recourse to any substantial evidence”.
“We condemn people not because we know they have done something evil, but because we do not know the truth about them,” he said.
According to Archbishop Sarpong, many teachings and practices of the Catholic faith had been misunderstood, misconstrued, misrepresented and rejected by some non-Catholics because of ignorance.
The President of the Ghana Catholic Bishop Conference, Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, urged Ghanaians to purchase the book to know more about Christianity and the Catholic faith.