Religious Congregations in Ghana Announce Crusade to “to cry out, as loud as we can” for Environment

“We shall be launching this crusade to ‘renew the face of our land’ next month (April) when we shall outline in detail the various activities we plan to undertake,” the Ghanaian-born member of the Society of African Missions (SMA) Fr. Ennin said in a statement that was shared with ACI Africa on March 16.

He appealed to “like-minded persons and groups” to be part of the crusade, which he also described as a “pilgrimage of restoration of our land”.

The CMSR-GH’s first bi-annual meeting for the year 2024 was held at the Arnold Janssen Spirituality Center under the theme, “Consecrated Life and Collaborative ministry in the local church”.

CMSR-GH is the umbrella body of leaders, designated as Major Superiors of men and women Religious Orders, in Ghana. There are 71 of such Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in the West African country.

In their meeting, the Major Superiors discussed various topics in the context of the theme of the Jubilee Year 2025, “Pilgrims of Hope”, which they said invites the people of God to live out the adventurous virtues of being “pilgrims, and not tourists in this world.”

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The theme, they said, is also an invitation to be agents and ministers of Hope, “amidst the challenges and crises of our time.”

The Jubilee Year, the heads of Religious Congregations and Societies of Apostolic Life in Ghana noted, presents a call to renew the face of the land by restoring Ghana’s damaged environment, polluted water bodies and the country’s destroyed forests.

“The renewal we seek also goes to the moral fabric of our society,” they said, and added, “Today, in the face of so much deceit, peddling of blatant falsehood, ‘legitimatization’ of corruption at all levels ‘as a new normal’, a growing ‘Ananse mentality’ to trick, cheat, dupe and kill others for selfish material gains, one begins to wonder what happened to our ‘Ghana’, to the star of Africa, the pace setter, the champion of African emancipation and African excellence?”

“Where is the Ghanaian personality, revered and celebrated across Africa and across the globe through our forebears like Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Busumuru Kofi Annan?” the Major Superiors lamented, adding, “Together we can write a new page in our ethical history as a people. Together we cry: ‘Send Forth Your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of our land.’”

In their Lenten Season message, the CMSR-GH members invite the people of God in Ghana to seek to be reconciled, not only with their creator, but also with the rest of His creation.

“This season of Lent, when we are all invited to be reconciled to God, offers us a great opportunity to start anew as we journey to renew the face of our land. As we endeavor to be reconciled to God and with one another, let us also seek to be reconciled with our land, our environment and creation,” they say in their March 15 statement shared with ACI Africa.

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.