‘Churches must be interested in stability of marriages’

The President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Reverend Philip Naameh, has advised parents to be vigilant at all times to keep their children safe in the wake of increasing cases of kidnappings in the country.

It is the view of Most Rev. Naameh, who is also the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Tamale, that parents had the responsibility to guide and guard their children and should as such take keen interest in their movements and activities.

He further urged parents to monitor and limit their children’s use of social media as it had the potential of exposing them to danger.

“Don’t delegate your supervisory role over your children to others and assume that they will be protected.

It is your responsibility as a parent to ensure that they are safe at all times,” he said.

Lecture

Most Rev. Naameh was speaking at the close of the 2019 Biennial Marshall Moreau Murat Memorial Lectures in Accra last Friday.

The two-day lectures, organised by the Knights and Ladies of Marshall, a society in the Catholic Church, formed part of activities marking the 50th anniversary of the group.

The event was on the theme: “Responding to the Amoris Laetitia with love in the family – the Marshallan.”

Education

Most Rev. Naameh underscored the need for leaders in the Catholic Church to intensify education on marriage in line with the church’s doctrine to deepen the understanding of church members on marriage and also aid with compliance.

He said families today were confronted with many challenges including financial instability, lack of commitment to marriage and infidelity requiring that there was continuous education to ensure stability of Christian marriages.

He said stability of Christian marriages would be in the interest of the church since both the church and society thrived on strong families.

“The family is the first to teach its members about God and how to function in society. Hence, whatever affects the family trickles down into the society and the church is affected,” he said.

Secularist ideologies

Most Rev Naameh said it was the church’s fundamental duty to ensure that secularist ideas about marriage such as divorce and cohabitation did not destroy the Christian concept and principles of marriage as instituted by God.

He mentioned fidelity, inseparability of the bond, unity, permanence and procreation as the main characteristics of Christian marriage which must be understood in order to maintain stability in marriages.

For instance, he said, the principle of indissolubility in Christian marriages is to ensure stability and permanence in Christian marriages and make certain that parents stayed together, in spite of challenges, all in the interest of their children.

“The doctrine of one man and one woman has the purpose of ensuring self-giving love and fidelity of both, not only one, in order to safeguard the stability and permanence of Christian marriage,” Most Rev Naameh added.

Launch

As part of the lecture series, the Court 5 Ladies of Marshall in Accra launched its celebration of the society’s 50th anniversary.

The celebration slated for December this year will be on the theme: “50 years of the Ladies of Marshall in Christian Service; the way forward.”

Activities to mark the celebration will include a retreat, health walk, health screening, donations and thanksgiving service.