National Cathedral: President of Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference Declares Project As Misplaced Priority

• Most Rev Philip Naameh, President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference, has said in his view, the cathedral project is unnecessary
• He revealed that the Bishops' Conference has requested some documents on the project to make an informed position on the project
• Archbishop of Tamale said although Most Rev Charles Palmer-Buckle was on the board of trustees for the project, he did not represent the Bishops' Conference

The President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference has said the National Cathedral project is not a priority for Ghana at this present time.

Expressing his personal views on the project, Most Rev Philip Naameh said the country was currently reeling under the economic challenges that need fixing first.

He told Newswire that, while the intention behind the initiative was good, current challenges facing the country make the project untenable.

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"Naturally at this time, I will agree with…many other critics that when you look at the economy and things that had to be destroyed in order that the cathedral may come on, we can say that it is definitely not a priority," Archbishop Naameh said.

He also said it was his view that the state should not fund the project, especially since the president had promised in the past that donations would fund the project.

However, he noted that the Bishops' Conference would prefer to be quiet on the development until it receives statutes of the project it requested to make informed decisions on the subject.

"The whole thing started with the president who said he had a vision and he made a promise to God that if he was elected president, this is what he will do for God. And so everybody expected that he was going to look for the money and he has also promised that he was not going to use the tax payers money for it. So these are facts that are on the table but I wouldn't want to comment on them now.

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"But to say that at this present stage it is not a priority, that one I can say. We will prefer to be quiet until we receive the statutes which will contain the management and all that which we have requested for," Archbishop Naameh explained.

The Archbishop, however, stressed that the Catholic Bishops' Conference still does not have an entrenched position on the project. The statutes that will inform its decision have not been provided, although the Bishops' Conference requested it three years ago.

He disclosed that the Vice President of the Conference, Most Rev. Charles Palmer-Buckle, was serving on the board of the National Cathedral because he was hand-picked by the president.

Most Rev Naamah explained that Most Rev Palmer-Buckle's presence on the project's board of trustees did not represent the Catholic Bishops' Conference approval.

National Cathedral: Okudzeto Ablakwa Reveals Dag Heward-Mills And Narh Omenyo Omitted From Incorporation

YEN.com.gh reported in a separate story that MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said some members of the National Cathedral Board of Trustees have been omitted in its incorporation.

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The Member of Parliament for North Tongu has said Presiding Bishop of the Lighthouse Group of Churches, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, and former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Reverend Professor Cephas Narh Omenyo, have not been added.

In a Facebook post on Monday, June 20, 2022, Ablakwa claimed the press release from the National Cathedral Secretariat issued on Friday, June 17, which included the two respected members of the religious community was false.

Source: YEN.com.gh