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ASK THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND YOU WILL BE TAUGHT TO UNDERSTAND - Insight into biblical and historical foundations of the papacy BY: REV. FR. ISAAC ENYAN (CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF SEKONDI –TAKORADI)

INTRODUCTION

Immediately after the Vatican news officially announced the death of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, the world’s attention was shifted to who would possibly be his successor. The social media was flooded with intellectual speculations and whimsical predictions. It continued until Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, whose name had eluded the social media predictions and intellectual speculations, appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as the new Pontiff, with the papal name Leo XIV. What a surprise package! Why this huge underdog, a friend of mine asked? I replied, “It shows the mystery of divine election”. In the words of one American Bishop, “This is a Pope who is chosen by the Holy Spirit and not the social media”.

As the papal election piqued the world, there was a drama of the devil’s advocate in the form of a trending social media video played by one Brother Asiamah, who presents himself as the face of the Church of Christ. I am not writing this article to attack him, but to CORRECT him. Many times, when some individual religious figures lose their minds on the Catholic Church, we often leave them without saying anything. It is not that we don’t have the “Men” to face them, but we often think it is not necessary. This time, I hold a contrary view. I think it is time we also react to their fundamentalism, extremism, and buffoonery pride. In the said video, the man identified as Brother Asiamah criticized the concept of papacy as a mere mental construct to deceive people. The basis for this condemnation, according to him, is that in the Bible, he has read that Peter, whom Catholics claim to be the first Pope, was married with children. So why is the so-called successor of Peter, the Pope, unmarried or celibate, he chided. He further emphatically called it a big deception! My question is, what role did marriage play in the apostolic mission exercised by Peter? The only time we hear of Peter in connection with marriage in the gospels is when Jesus healed his mother-in-law (Matt 8:14-15, Lk 4:38-40). If Peter had a mother-in-law, then it is reasonable to implicitly assume that he had a wife and children. So he might be right. St. Paul’s statement in 1 Cor 9:5 subtly suggests that the apostles, including Peter, had their wives. However, it is only an implicit inference. There is nowhere in the Bible that a detailed account is given about Peter’s wife and children, unless Brother Asiamah has a different Bible from the Canonical Christian literature called the New Testament. It is important to note that the Catholic Church does not scorn marriage. The Church teaches that marriage is a sacred institution. It is a sacrament. So, as Catholics, we uphold the dignity of marriage as a divine institution. We again believe that it is a vocation. Nevertheless, it did not play any role in the apostolic mission, for which one can say that without marriage, one cannot occupy the seat of Peter. Peter was a fisherman and owned boats. Does that mean that one cannot assume the functions of the apostles if one is not a fisherman? By virtue of their ministry, Catholic Priests are exempt from marriage. Exemptions in normalcy are naturally, culturally, and religiously allowable. For example, all men and women are born to reproduce, but there are still some who are born barren. So even nature is open to exceptions. Again, in the Old Testament, the greatest blessing for a man was to have children (the 12 sons of Israel, the 70 children of Gideon, etc.) Intriguingly, even such divine blessings were open to exemptions. In other words, some were exempted in the light of such blessings. For example, Elijah and Jeremiah had to be exempted to embrace a voluntary celibacy because of their peculiar prophetic missions (Jer 16).In the New Testament, we have plenty of such exemptions. For example, Jesus the Messiah did not marry. Others were John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, and Paul the Apostle, to mention a few. And so it is not impossible to occupy the seat of Peter without marriage since marriage plays no role in the exercise of the Petrine office. Moreover, in the said video, Brother Asiamah also said there is nothing like a Pope in the bible so as to look for his replacement upon his death. Catholics believe that the Pope is the successor of Peter, the leader of the twelve Apostles. Jesus did not just choose the twelve Apostles to follow him, but he also entrusted unto them an office. That is why when Judas died, the eleven saw the necessity for his replacement (Acts 1:15ff). If Jesus had just called them to follow him, there wouldn’t have been any need to replace Judas after Jesus himself was no more with them physically. During the election, Peter, the leader of the Apostles, quoted the Psalms of David, which said, “Let his habitation become desolate and let no one live in it but his office; let another take” (Acts 1:20). So there was an office which was entrusted to the Apostles. It was a teaching office that was why the qualification for the election included a witness to Jesus’ Galilean ministry, his death, and the resurrection (Acts 1:21-22). So they did not just choose anybody, but those who were well-versed in the ministry of the Lord. So the ministry requires Faith and Knowledge of God. Again, in that same video, he also attacked Catholics for calling their priests “FATHERS”; the biblical basis for his condemnation is Matthew 23. He simply said Matthew 23, but I think he was specifically referring to v8-10. In v9, Jesus says, “call no one your father on earth for you have only one Father who is in heaven”. He stopped there and asked his audience to continue with the rest. Why did he ignore v8 and 10, where Jesus also says call no one a teacher and a master? We often apply these titles (teacher and master) to deserving people every day without falling into moral and doctrinal error. In the same bible, Elisha called Elijah “my father” (2 Kings 2:12). Again, the Apostle Paul referred to himself as a father to Timothy, Titus, and some communities he founded (I Cor 4:15, 1 Tim 1:2, 18, Titus 1:4). Paul called Timothy and Titus his children. If they were his children, then who was he to them? Has Brother Asiamah not read these biblical texts, or does he not believe in some texts in the bible? It reminds me of what C.S. Lewis, a great British theologian, said: “A proud person looks down on everything and everyone. And because he is always looking down, he does not see what is above him”. That is why, after he had proved by his demeanor that he is the only one who teaches the truth in the bible, the fundamentals of bible knowledge eluded him. Let me bring him home to the very text (Matt 23:8-10) he used against the Catholic Church. Let me use Eph 3:14-15 as the background of what Jesus intended to teach his disciples. Paul says, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named”. For Paul, God is the ultimate source of fatherhood. And this is exactly what Jesus intended to teach. For Jesus, the disciples share in the mission of the Father and the Son through the preaching of the Gospel (Matt 28:19-20). So their fatherhood is a kind of derivative participation. They share in the fatherhood of God, the absolute Father. The Son is the absolute teacher and master since he is the only one who knows the Father (Matt 11:27, Luke 10:22). So the disciples of Jesus share in his teaching office. So they are teachers by derivation. They are to teach what comes from Him. This is what Jesus intended his disciples to understand. There are so many religious leaders today as churches keep on multiplying. I don’t intend to scorn anyone, nor do I doubt the genuineness of their call from God. However, I think it is time that religious leaders should know that we lead religious people with wisdom and not emotions. Scripture says if a blind man leads a blind man, both fall into a pit (Matt 15:14). If a blind leader leads a group both are bound to perish. The man in question, Brother Asiamah, as they call him, often teaches his people that only the “Church of Christ” can offer salvation and not any other church. His reason for this is that his “Church of Christ” is the first church to be established by Christ. Strangely, “Church of Christ,” a religious movement that started in the nineteenth Century in America, an infant nation, mysteriously becomes the first church to be established by Jesus Christ. I think this is indeed an “intellectual missing link”. It is rather unfortunate that sometimes we claim to be men of God but woefully miss the mark of Christ. Jesus Christ was humble and gentle of heart and called his disciples in all generations to imitate him (Matt 11:29). The fullness of holiness and moral purity resided in him as the Son of God. Nevertheless, Jesus did not distance himself from anybody who met him, not even those his society had ostracized as sinners. In other words, Jesus did not teach as if he were holy and others were evil. He freely mingled with people and, without losing his sense of identity as the Son of God, dined with sinners, harlots, and tax collectors. So that those who met him went back changed and lived lives they had never lived before (Lk 19:1-9, Matt 9:9-13). This distinguished him from the Pharisees and the Scribes. This is the spirit of the gospel and not this bluff on social media. The ministry calls for courageous living by the values of Christ. Therefore, let us be humble, seek the truth, understand the truth, and teach the truth. THE BIBLICAL FOUNDATION OF THE PAPACY Catholics believe that the papal authority is deeply rooted in Jesus’ commission of Peter. The commission is found in Matthew 16:18-19 and its parallel passages. The setting is Caesarea Philippi, where Peter answered Jesus’ question of who they think he is. Peter answered “You are the Christ the Son of the living of God” (Matt 16:16). After this great confession, Jesus said to Peter, “And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matt 16:18-19). For clarity's sake, I think it will be better for us to delve into the statement of Jesus and examine its implications in the apostolic mission of Peter. The statement of Jesus, namely, I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, must be read against the backdrop of Isaiah 22:15-25. The narrative records the transfer of one royal steward by name, Shebna, to another called Eliakim. Who then was a royal steward? The office of the royal steward was instituted by King Solomon, the son and successor of King David (1 Kings 4:6). The royal steward, by appointment, carries the powers of the king. In fact, he was the most important person after the king and the queen mother. He could be understood in the modern role of the Prime Minister. In Israel the King appeared to be a ceremonial head. In the narrative in question (Is 22:15-25), the prophet tells the new steward (Eliakim) that he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah. He went on further to say “And I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and shall shut and none shall open” (Is 22:22). The saying of Jesus namely “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” has generated volumes of interpretations. Many Non-Catholics give it a metaphoric interpretation to mean that the gospel will free people from their sins. However, the phrase should be understood in the context of the Jewish tradition. Jesus had in mind the role of the steward of the Davidic kingdom. The term “bind and loose” referred to the royal authority of the kingdom in Jewish thought. Jesus, being the Davidic king, chose Peter and entrusted unto him his royal authority to exercise a teaching office on his behalf. The theologian Stephen K. Ray notes, “In using the terminology of Isaiah, Jesus is telling the church that Peter has been given his key, his authority, as one delegates authority to a vicar or deputy. Whereas Christ is the invisible head of the church, Peter is the visible head of the church.” The role of this royal steward places on his shoulders the responsibility of those in the kingdom. Therefore, Peter became the father of the new people of God, and that is why his successors are called “popes”. The word pope comes from the Italian word “papa,” meaning father or daddy. Peter and the apostles were entrusted with this teaching office by Christ to guide the church into the mystery of his death and resurrection. Again, Stephen K. Ray writes, “Isaiah declares that Eliakim is given the authority of the keys to open and close in the name of, and in the place of, the king. But Peter’s authority extends farther than just opening and closing, because Jesus changes the parallel words to “binding and loosing”, indicating that Peter has the power to exercise administrative and legislative authority with a mandate from heaven. A SURVEY OF THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAPACY The Papacy grew out of the apostolic tradition. So the Pope occupies the office of Peter entrusted unto him by Jesus Christ (Matt 16:18-19). The Papacy has also gone through several stages of development with time, just as the bible has also developed from parchments, papyrus, to published books as we have today. Catholic tradition has it that the papacy thrives on the legacy of St. Peter the apostle. Even though Scripture does not mention Peter’s sojourn in Rome. However, several traditions associate him with Rome. Peter’s presence in Rome was well attested to by many ancient writers, namely, Clement of Alexandria (150-c 215), Eusebius (A. D.260-340), Cyril of Jerusalem (A.D.315-386), Pope St. Damasus I (A. D. 304-384), and others. Additionally, several ancient documents also testify to Peter’s presence in Rome. Examples are Catalogus Liberianus (A. D. 354), Liber Pontificalis (4th Century sources) and Doctrine of Addai (Syriac document dated A. D. 400). Some of the Fathers of the Faith namely, St. Jerome, St Augustine of Hippo, Optatus of Milevis, Epiphanius of Salamis and others also testify to the primacy of Peter in Rome. We know from tradition (history) that St. Polycarp and St. Ignatius of Antioch, who were Bishops in Smyrna and Antioch, respectively, were all close associates of John the Apostle. The disciples of the Apostles also passed on their apostolic offices to their disciples. And this is how the teaching authority of the church grew. The teaching authority has guided the church in respect of the true doctrine of Christ. It stood tall in the times of heresies and schisms. It has defended the truth of the Divinity of Christ in various councils. The complete Canon of Scripture was universally accepted in A.D. 367 after a Synod in Rome. Indeed, anyone who studies the mechanical development of the Bible cannot pour scorn on the Papacy as Asiamah has been ignorantly doing on social media.. The Papacy has been responsible for the orderliness we have in Christendom today. If Christianity had started like it is today, they could not have agreed on the common literature we have today as the New Testament. So the Papacy has preserved the true nature of Christianity from the apostolic era till today. The Papacy has survived many attacks (wars), controversies, schisms, including the Protestant Reformation. And for us Catholic Christians, that shows the importance of the office of the pope. This is why the church is Apostolic. It is the only Church that can trace its origin to the apostles. Any other Christian denomination or church can only trace its history to the apostolic origin through the Catholic Church. So if someone thinks the Catholic Church is fake, like Brother Asiamah and his accomplices, then they are in effect saying everything about Christianity is fake because they are now following what the Catholic Church, under the leadership of the successors of Peter (the popes), has preserved for posterity. Let us always open ourselves to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and learn more about our faith. Let us eschew all forms of extremism and fundamentalism, for they are nothing but religious hazards.

WHEN PHONES RULE US: Finding Freedom in Digital Discipline By Rev. Fr. Stephen Ansah-Mensah Chaplain, Holy Child College of Education, Takoradi. & Director, DEPSOCOM Sekondi-Takoradi.

In a world shaped by technology, the mobile phone has become one of the most influential tools in our hands. While it offers opportunities for learning, connection, and spiritual growth, it can also be a source of distraction, moral decay, and spiritual dryness especially within academic and religious communities like Teacher Training Colleges. The Church foresaw this danger in its 1963 document Inter Mirifica on the means of social communication. It teaches: "The media, though capable of great good, can also do serious harm to individuals and society if misused" (Inter Mirifica, no. 2). This warning echoes the truth, "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial, not everything builds up (1 Corinthians 10:23) For many students, particularly in female colleges where sensitivity and social pressures are intense, smartphones have become constant companions often replacing silence, reflection, study, and even prayer. Unchecked use leads to addiction, anxiety, poor academic performance, weakened interpersonal skills, and loss of moral focus. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Your phone can build or break you depending on how you use it. Proposals for Effective Use of Phones 1. Scheduled Usage Set fixed times for social media, entertainment, and phone use. Use tools like screen-time trackers to monitor and limit non-essential use. 2. Use Phones as Academic Tools Download educational apps, record lectures, take notes, or join academic forums. Let your phone be your digital library, not your source of laziness. 3. Promote Spiritual Growth Subscribe to Catholic podcasts, YouTube homilies, or prayer apps. Share Gospel content on your status. Be a digital evangelist. 4. Phone Abstinence Observe regular “phone-free” periods, especially during Mass, prayer times, quiet time, and meals. Phone discipline helps you hear God. 5. Create Support Groups Form accountability circles among your peers to encourage responsible digital habits. Spiritual growth thrives in community. Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:21: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If your treasure is buried in your phone, your heart will follow and you may lose focus on your mission. Let your phone serve you, not enslave you. Use it for truth, learning, prayer, and virtue. Build your human capacity with conscious and deliberate discipline use of phones. Anything less is self-destruction. Article informed by Inter Mirifica and Scripture relative to Holy Child College of Education, Takoradi, yet lessons applicable to all areas of life.

MARY, THE MATRIARCH OF CHRISTIANITY -woman behold your son, son behold your mother (Jn 19:27) BY: REV. FR. ISAAC ENYAN, (CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF SEKONDI- TAKORADI)

INTRODUCTION 

Catholics believe that Mary, the mother of the Messiah, is also the mother of the church. In other words, Mary is the mother of all Christians or the disciple of Jesus. This is why we sometimes come across prayerful conclusions such as “Let us commit ourselves unto the maternal care of Mary” and others in traditional Catholic prayers. The matriarchal role of Mary is not a modern theological construct, but a firmly held belief among the fathers of the Faith since the early centuries of Christianity. For example, St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan concludes a sermon in the form of a doxology such as “May the Christ from the height of the cross say also to each one of you “There is your mother”. May he also say to the church: “There is your son.” 

The church is loud and clear with regard to Mary’s motherhood of the church in some recent magisterial documents. For example St. John Paul II says “Mary is present in the church as the mother of Christ, and at the same time as that mother whom Christ, in the mystery of redemption, gave to humanity in the person of the Apostle John” (RM 47). Again, Vatican II document, Lumen Gentium also states “The virgin Mary is acknowledged and honored as being truly the mother of God and of the Redeemer but being of the human race of Adam, she is at the same time also united to all those who are to be saved. She is the mother of the members of Christ since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the church who are members of its head”. These and many more magisterial documents succinctly clarify the spiritual motherhood of Mary. MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH Mary’s motherhood of the church can be understood from the point of view of biblical typology. Let me begin with the Eve-Mary parallel. Catholic theology sees Mary as the new Eve, the new mother of the living. As Eve became the mother of the old race conquered by sin, so Mary became the mother of the new race redeemed in Christ. The theology of the Eve-Mary parallel reflects in some traditional Marian prayers. For example, in the “Hail Holy Queen” prayer, a portion of it reads “To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears……After this our exile, show us the blessed fruit of your womb Jesus”. It is again explicit in some of the writings of the fathers of the Faith. For example St. Irenaeus, who hails from the tradition of John the Evangelist wrote “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary: What the virgin Eve had bound in disbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through Faith”. There was an ancient motto that went like “Death through Eve, life through Mary. The Eve-Mary typology has its biblical foundation in the New Testament. One of these texts is John 2:1-11, which recounts the event of the wedding at Cana. In this event Jesus calls his mother as “woman”. For many reputable biblical scholars, the term “woman” meant more than the dictionary definition of an “adult female human being”. They consider Genesis 3 as its intellectual background. They see the mother of Jesus as the anti-type of Eve, whose offspring will crush the head of the serpent (Gen3:15). As just as a woman had a hand in the coming of death so a woman also had a hand in the coming of life. Another typology is Rachel-Mary parallel. The church again sees Mary as the new Rachel, a mother of sorrows. Rachel was the mother of the Patriarchs Joseph and Benjamin and was also the loveliest wife of Jacob (Gen 29:28-30). The sad story about Rachel was that she died whilst giving birth to Benjamin, the last born of Jacob (Gen 35:16-20). Whilst dying she named the child Ben-‘oni in Hebrew, which means “Son of my sorrows” even though Jacob turned it into Benjamin meaning “Son of my right hand” (Gen 38:18). Rachel was considered as the “mother of all Israel who somehow suffers with them and weeps for them even after her death”. There is a strange oracle in the prophecy of Jeremiah in which the prophet portrays Rachel as weeping for her children who had been killed and taken into captivity (Jer 31:15). The site of her tomb became a national sacred shrine for the Jews. Hence, the sacred author briefly comments “It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb which is there to this day” (Gen 35:20). Jews frequented the tomb of Rachel annually. How does the story of Rachel relate to Mary? For us to better understand it let us turn to some pages in the New Testament. We begin with the Matthean story of the infant massacre in Bethlehem. In this tragic event Matthew quotes Jeremiah’s prophecy that Rachel though dead still weeps for her children (Matt 2:18, Jer 31:16). In this passage Matthew shares the Jewish belief that Matriarchal role of Rachel continues even after her death. Theologians and Scripture scholars see a close connection between Mary and Rachel. As one Jewish contemporary scholar points out “In Matthew, Rachel is a symbolic figure for the suffering mother, in this case, the Jewish suffering mother. And Rachel’s pain for the dead children is also symbolic for the suffering of Mary’s children in relation to her illustrious Son”. One could imagine the magnitude of pain Mary might have gone through on account of the massacre of these innocent infants. A New Testament scholar, Brant Pitre writes: “Mary in Matthew’s gospel is truly a new Rachel. Indeed, on a very human level, it is easy to imagine Mary weeping not only for the persecution and exile of her own son but for the lives of all the boys who were massacred in the attempt to kill her child”. The Book Revelation takes the subject of Mary-Rachel parallel further. It says “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: she was with a child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery (Rev 12:1-12). Many scholars consider Gen 37:9-11 as the intellectual background of this story. The author of Genesis narrates that Joseph had a dream in which, the moon and the eleven stars were bowing to him (Gen 37:9). After Joseph had revealed the dream to his father and his brothers, his father questioned “Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come and bow down before you? The sun in this story symbolized his father Jacob, the moon stands for Rachel (the mother) and the stars symbolized his brothers” Brant Pitre once again writes “The implication of John’s vision of the woman adorned with the sun, standing on the moon and wearing a crown of 12 stars seem to be that the heavenly mother of the Messiah is exalted above all Israel including the Matriarch and patriarchs of old. She reigns with the Messiah sharing in his kingdom”. So Mary is the anti-type of Rachel, an exalted and sorrowful mother. Furthermore, the matriarchal role of Mary in the church could be studied from the perspective of two senses. They are objective and subjective senses. In the objective sense the church believes that Mary generated humanity to supernatural life by her natural conception of Christ, the head of humankind (1 Cor 11:3). Scripture says Christ is the head of the church, his body of which he is the savior (Eph 5:23). Mary who gave birth to Christ the head of the church also becomes the mother of the church which is the body of Christ. Another biblical foundation of Mary’s spiritual motherhood is the event of her being handed over to the beloved disciple by Jesus as his mother at the foot of his cross (Jn 19: 26). The narrative says “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother ‘woman behold your son! And he said to the beloved disciple ‘behold your mother’! And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home”. From the ancient time the church had come to believe that by giving his mother to the beloved disciple Christ symbolically gave her mother to all his disciples. One Protestant biblical scholar writes “From the cross, Jesus sees his mother and the beloved disciple standing nearby and with a simple statement, gives the beloved disciple as a son to his mother and gives his mother to the beloved Disciple. By this ceremonial act, a new relationship is formed, a new family is created”. Many scholars believe that on the cross Jesus performed a prophetic symbolic action as he had done in many ways in the course of his Galilean ministry. For example, Jesus’ turning over the money-changers’ table and cursing the barren fig tree were all symbolic actions that foreshadowed the impending destruction of the Temple (Mk 11:12-14, Jn 2:13-22). Again, in the Gospel of John, the beloved disciple becomes a symbolic figure, signifying faithful discipleship. So all are called to be beloved disciples who journey with Christ even to his passion and death. And in entrusting Mary to the beloved disciple Jesus was entrusting his mother to all faithful disciples of him. The theologian Timothy Gray writes “John was the first to take Mary as spiritual mother. John therefore stands as a witness and sign that fruit of Marian devotion is a love for Christ that is as strong as death. John shows that the disciple who takes Mary by the hand is able to follow our Lord all the way to Calvary”. The narrative continues that “From that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (Jn 19:26). This could mean that the disciple took Mary to his house and stayed with her. This could be supported by Mary’s presence with the disciples in anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14). On the other hand a New Testament scholar Brant Pitre observes that the original Greek does not use the ordinary Greek word (oikos) for home. According to Brant Pitre, the Greek word (idia) as used by the original Greek connotes one’s own. He concludes that “The beloved disciple is to treat Mary as his mother”. This symbolic action was immediately followed by Jesus’ last words “It is finished”. After this he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (Jn 19:30). So Mary’s vocation as the mother of all Disciples of Christ flowed from the passion of Christ. Naturally, motherhood emanates from pain. A mother goes through pain in order to bring fort life. So motherhood and pain are naturally linked together. Mary’s share in the hour of Jesus, the hour of the definitive fulfilment of God’s plan of salvation also led to her exaltation as the mother of all Disciples of Christ. Additionally, the motherhood of Mary could also be considered from a subjective sense. In this sense, the theologian, Juan Luis Bastero explains “Mary spiritually conceives that person when he or she receives baptismal regeneration”. Mary therefore, becomes the mother of all those born through baptism. As St. Augustine said “Mary is the mother of the total Christ”. What did St. Augustine mean by this statement? It is precisely because the mystical body of Christ which is the church has Christ as the head “and the faithful as its members”. As a mother of the church Mary has a maternal office which is intrinsically linked with Jesus’ saving mission. Reflecting on Lumen Gentium No 62 Juan Luis Bastero, puts it in clear words as “Mary’s maternal vocation, in the plan of divine providence, was to be the mother of the Redeemer and, by bearing her son, nourishing him, presenting him in the Temple, suffering with him at the cross, so co operated in a completely unique way in the restoration of supernatural life to souls. This motherhood in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect”. Furthermore, Mary’s role as a mother of the church also makes her an intercessor. To understand Mary’s role as an intercessor, it will be better to return to the Mary-Rachel parallel. Just as Rachel was regarded as a powerful intercessor for the ancient Jews so Mary is also seen as the powerful intercessor for the New People of God. A contemporary Jewish scholar, Jacob Neusner writes “That is why I can find in Mary a Christian, a Catholic Rachel, whose prayers count when the prayers of great men, fathers of the world, fall to the ground. No wonder that, When Rachel weeps, God listens. How hard, then, can it be for me to find in Mary that sympathetic, special friend that Catholics have known for 2,000 years! Not so hard at all. So yes, if Rachel, then why not Mary?” And so on one level Mary’s maternal role as an intercessor of the church is deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition. In this tradition Mary becomes the anti-type of Rachel. On another level it is also implicit in the Holy Scriptures. Some ancient writers as well as contemporary biblical scholars trace its biblical foundation to Revelation 12:1, it says “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery…… This mysterious woman caught up in Heaven is identified with Mary the mother of the Messiah. Pope Benedict XVI gives insightful reflections on this passage as he writes “The passage from the Book of Revelation also indicates another important aspect of Mary’s reality. As the living act of the covenant, she has an extraordinary destiny of glory because she is closely united to the Son whom she welcomed in faith and generated in the flesh as to share fully in glory in heaven. This is what the word we have heard suggest ‘A great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the Sun (Rev 12:1)… Mary mother of God, full of grace, fully docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, already lives in God’s heaven with her whole being, body and soul”. Since Mary is not dead and she is actively present with the Son in the heavenly temple “she must be alive than any other human on earth”. This is what Vatican II meant by saying “The Blessed Virgin did not lay aside her salvific duty… Her constant intercession continued to bring eternal salvation”. So Mary carries her intercessory role to eternity. This is why Catholics ask Mary to intercede for them. This does not in any way obstruct the role of Christ as the only mediator between God and man (1Tim 2:5-6).

A Break That Makes a Difference: Rethinking the BECE Exam Timetable for Learner Well-being By Rev. Fr. Vincent Dan Teiko, University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa Assistant Registrar, Counselling Unit

The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) this year quietly broke tradition, yet it may have created a valuable opportunity. Historically, junior high school students in Ghana write all ten (10) subjects of the BECE over the course of five intense days, usually from Monday to Friday. It is a demanding stretch of two papers per day, often without sufficient breathing space for reflection, revision, or rest. However, the 2025 BECE, due to an unplanned alignment with the Eid al-Adha celebration and its associated public holiday, began on a Wednesday and ended on the following Wednesday— effectively providing a weekend break between two examination phases. At first glance, this might seem like a minor scheduling shift. But for the thousands of young students navigating one of the most important academic thresholds of their lives, it was a subtle but powerful reprieve. The unintentional structure offered what the usual format often fails to provide: a natural pause for the brain to reset, the body to recharge, and the spirit to stabilise. And it raises a critical question: Should this revised timetable become the new norm? Anyone who has worked with junior high school students during BECE week knows the toll it takes—not just academically, but psychologically. Waking up early for five consecutive days of back-to-back exams is taxing for even the most resilient adult, let alone 14- or 15-year-olds. The pressure builds by midweek; fatigue sets in, performance dips, and anxiety often surges just when students need their clarity the most. We speak often about the importance of mental health and well-being in education, yet our exam structures have rarely caught up with these concerns. In contrast, senior high school students writing the WASSCE enjoy a spread-out timetable spanning nearly a month, with days in betweento recover and prepare. The BECE, which is designed for younger students, has historically had a more compressed schedule, leaving no room for relaxation. This year, students unexpectedly benefited from a weekend break. Anecdotal feedback from teachers, invigilators, and students themselves suggests that many returned on Monday with renewed energy, improved focus, and lower stress levels. The weekend allowed time to revise subjects scheduled for the following week, consult teachers or peers informally, and get critical rest. It was not just a pause; it was a performance booster. The break served as a mental “half-time”, allowing students to regroup rather than stagger through the second half of the exams. In the competitive and emotionally charged environment of standardised testing, even a small advantage in focus can make a significant difference in outcomes. While the calendar shift this year was accidental, its benefits were real. If the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) are truly committed to learner-centred policies, this is an opportunity worth seizing. Making the weekend break a permanent feature of the BECE timetable would not require an overhaul of the entire academic calendar. This simply entails extending the exams from five days to seven or eight days, as implemented this year. The change does not reduce rigour or lower standards. Rather, it aligns with global best practices in education where assessment schedules consider cognitive and emotional stamina. Countries that prioritise educational outcomes increasingly recognise that time, rest, and mental wellness are not luxuries—they are necessities. This article does not purport to provide all the solutions. But it raises a conversation worth having—not only among policymakers at GES and WAEC but also among school heads, teachers, parents, and health professionals. What is the purpose of an examination system if not to provide an accurate, humane measure of learning and readiness? A restructured BECE timetable, with a purposeful weekend pause, would be a modest but meaningful step toward a more compassionate and effective educational process. As Ghana continues to shape its future leaders through education, it must also model the kind of leadership that listens, observes, and adapts. This year's exam calendar adjustment may have been circumstantial—but its positive psychological and academic ripple effects are worth preserving. Let us not waste the accidental wisdom of this year’s BECE. Let us act on it.

OPPRESSED BY CULTURE, LIBERATED BY FAITH

By Fr. Allou Koffi

Rev. Fr. Allou Koffi

Oppression against women has taken many different shapes alongside cultures in the world. In many cultures, it has been present in the shapes of feminicides, rapes, and female genital mutilation. It has also been perpetrated from the private to the public sphere, and from the families to the individual members.

In the northern Ghana, the presence of patriarchal culture reinforces gender-based attribution and accusation of witch craft, with the result that the accused woman is left with no option than to flee to one of the witch camps where her security and safety is believed to be guaranteed. 2

The heart-breaking account of Fatoumata would constitute a mark of challenge to completely believe that the witch camps are actually the ‘sanctuaries of safety and security’. Fatoumata, a staunch Catholic who became a victim of witch craft accusation together with her mother for over twenty years, but believed to have been liberated by her faith in Jesus through the intercession of Mary. I could hardly believe when she recounted her tragic but miraculous event during testimony time in the following words:

‘We were accused of witch craft and were painfully expelled by our siblings from the village to Gnani witch camp’. Even before then, my mother and I were brought to the village square by our siblings and the community’s self-proclaimed witch hunter, to confess being witches. We initially resisted, but after numerous tortures, abuses and hoped to survive, we yielded to the power of their accusation. It is sad to note that, this accusation started when my father died by a snake bite. After the final funeral rites, some members of my paternal family members discussed with my mother to  do soothsaying to find out the cause of the accident leading to the death of my father. But my mother declined her support of the idea because it was against her Catholic faith and that didn’t go down well with them. As a result, they accused my mother and I to have bewitched my dad. 

 

She narrated: ‘In addition to having to face physical abandonment, we suffered many abuses in the camp; such as monetary exploitation, emotional abuse, and diversion of relief by camp leaders from Catholic Caritas, and force labour with little or no pay’. Sometimes, we were used as free or cheap labour on the farms of the traditional priest and other community members.

1Evans Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracle and Magic among the Azande (London: Claredon Press, 1937), 17.

2Mariam Hunter, The Prison Sanctuary of Witch Hunters (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997),13

In name of hunger, some of the victims’ livelihood and dependents would endure sexual exploitation.

 

Faced with harsh realities in the camp, my mom will pray the rosary with me, notably the sorrowful and glorious mysteries. It was through those moments, I learned that each decade provides an opportunity to meditate on one of the mysteries and events in the lives of Jesus Christ and his mother Mary.

During those moments, I often asked that the Rosary has been exalted in the church, but, ‘what does it mean to us suffering in this camp’? My mother will teach me about how through the intercession of Mary and the rosary, God granted his church victory over the Muslims invasion.

She made me believe that through our continuous praying of the Rosary, God would vindicate us from our accusation. Admittedly, long before my mother died at the camp, she turned to the Rosary as a sign of her being liberated by faith. It was this message of faith that she wanted to pass on to me, so that I could look beyond the oppressive culture of our day and follow Jesus in the most fruitful way.

More often, in our sad times, she will remind me of the Scripture where Jesus quoted Isaiah: ‘He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberties to captives…’ (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18) to strengthen me. As I look back, I realise that my mother has taught me to understand Scripture in a way that affirms my dignity, self-worth and liberty. Despite the social stigma relating to witch craft accusation, many hold respect for me after my vindication and whenever I visited home in the north.

Today, my experience in praying the Rosary reminds me of the Exodus passage in which God appears to Moses and said: ‘I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and I have heard their cry of complain…so I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptian…’(Exodus 3:7). 

 

My mother and I were not asking for political liberation, but liberation from an oppressive culture. We prayed for liberation from a culture which builds on false accusation. We desired nothing but liberty from a culture which has the power to marginalise and oppress its very people from a worthy life and human rights. And the only hope for this liberation was to turn to Jesus through the intercession of Mary, because He alone is God and would never take sides with such a culture.

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