Before the inauguration of the Committee responsible for the implementation of the Child Policy document, Rev. Fr. Michael Numekevor Junior (a Lawyer) delivered an inaugural speech on the Child Protection Policy. He pointed out that, the child abuse cases that surfaced in Europe and America induced the need for this Policy and that it was a Papal mandate from His Holiness, Pope Francis to all Episcopal Conferences to enact such a Policy in the various Local Churches across the globe. ‘Never again should a child be abused in the Holy Roman Catholic Church; for children are the future of the Church and the world at large. Any child that is abused is likely to also abuse’, were the closing remarks of Fr. Michael.
The committee members for Child protection in the Koforidua Diocese are Very Rev. Fr. Joseph Q. Aggrey (Chairman), Very Rev. Fr. Sebastian Hackman Owusu Mensah, Rev. Fr. Frederick Opoku-Obeng, SVD, Rev. Fr. Michael Numekevor Jnr, Sr. Providencia Mireku, HDR, Ms. Janet Adenyo, and Mr. James B. Awumeh, were called upon to commit to the policy’s effectiveness in the protection of all children, and child-offenders duly brought to book within the space of the Catholic Diocese of Koforidua. The Bishop prayed over them.
After the Committee members of the Child Protection Policy were inaugurated and commissioned, the Bishop himself launched the Policy Document to the glory of God and 10 copies were auctioned.
The inauguration of committee members and the launching of the Diocesan Pastoral Strategic Plan took a similar form as that of the Child Protection Policy. The Ten-year (2022-2032) Pastoral Strategic Plan of the Koforidua Diocese is intended to build and develop a ‘Self-reliant Church’. Rev. Msgr. Francis Twum-Barimah (Chairman), Very Rev. Fr. Joseph Q. Aggrey, Very Rev. Fr. Joseph Asumadu, Very Rev. Fr. Justin Franklin Mensah, and Very Rev. Fr. Ebenezer Abban formed the Committee Members that were inaugurated and commissioned by the Bishop, who likewise launched and auctioned the Pastoral Strategic Plan Document.
Present at the celebration were Pastoral leaders from all parishes and quasi-parishes and representatives from all the Religious Congregations and members of the Consecrated Life within the Diocese. There were other Priests and Religious present including Rev. Msgr. Alex Bobby Benson, Fr. Ebenezer Abban (KODPA President), Fr. Richard Dordonu (Dean of Koforidua Deanery), and Fr. Frederick Opoku-Obeng, SVD (the host Parish Priest).
