‘Churches must have authority over mission schools’
The Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Society of Divine Word (SVD) of the Catholic Church at Donkorkrom, Most Rev. Gabriel Kumordji, has called for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed between church missions which own schools and the government.
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He said such an MoU should give the churches some measure of authority over the mission schools.
Most Rev. Kumordji said because most of the mission schools had been absorbed by the Ministry of Education, the churches that founded them could not exercise any appreciable authority over them.
Rev. Kumordji made the call at a ceremony to climax the year-long celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of the SVD in Accra.
The celebration, which was dubbed “75 years of SVD Evangelisation in Ghana: Knowing, Living and Sharing the Divine Word” brought together priests of the SVD from different parts of the world.
It was used to thank God for His mercies, as well as all those who participated in the activities of the celebration and to take stock of the past, evaluate the present situation of the Divine Word Missionaries and plan ahead.
Most Rev. Kumordji recalled that a similar agreement was signed between the church missions and the government in the past but noted that the agreement had been sidelined and the church had thus taken sole responsibility for the schools.
He said the situation was inappropriate, particularly so as the SVD, for example, had been involved in education since 1938 and had established a number of schools, especially in the remote areas of the country.
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Rev. Kumordji also advised members of the public to support and respect the lower class in society, noting that most Christians were self-centred, contrary to the word of God.
He said the situation made it imperative for the heroic works of the earlier missionaries to be focused on.
‘The pride of some missionaries has made them to be disrespectful and arrogant to their fellow missionaries and the people they serve,” he stressed.