Declining Catholic numbers: New pastoral strategy needed for mixed marriages – Fr. Michael Mensah

Speaking during the 75th-anniversary webinar dialogue series of the IMCS PAX Romana Ghana Federation on April 28, the priest delved into the pressing issue of declining Catholic membership, attributing the phenomenon partly to mixed marriages.

Drawing insights from a presentation titled “Pastoral response to the outcome of data on 2021 national population census: strategies to increase Catholic membership and decrease attrition of members” by Mr. Simon-Peter Addai, which was earlier presented to the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference in 2022 in Donkorkrom, Fr. Mensah emphasized the urgent need for a recalibrated pastoral approach to address the challenges that come with mixed marriages among Catholics.

“Referring again to this document which speaks about the possibility of establishing a ministry assigned to married couples, I want to underline. We don’t just need a ministry assigned to married couples. We need a ministry assigned to mixed marriages. Whether we like it or not, the demographics that we are talking about, indicate that by and large, a good number of our Catholics may be entering into mixed marriages. So we need to think about that,” Fr. Mensah said.

Highlighting the gravity of the situation, Fr. Mensah cautioned against complacency, warning that failure to address the unique challenges faced by couples in mixed marriages could precipitate a mass exodus from the Catholic faith. He underscored the necessity for a proactive and nuanced pastoral strategy, one that goes beyond conventional marriage counseling to provide tailored support for Catholics in mixed unions.

“The demographic says they are going to find partners in other churches and they are going to leave. So we need to have people who accompany people in mixed marriages. It has to be a full ministry on its own quite apart from the normal marriage counselling,” he averred.

He added that, “When you listen to people in mixed marriages, you realise that their experiences are completely different and we need a new pastoral strategy to accompany that kind of discourse. And if somebody for instance comes and says I am going to marry a protestant, the kind of marriage counseling the person goes through, I think should be distinctively different.”