Leadership of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA) and Conference of Episcopal Conferences of West Africa (CERAO) has called on rectors of seminaries in the region to take proactive steps in ensuring seminarians are properly formed in liturgical practices, emphasising that proper training is key to preventing liturgical abuses once seminarians are ordained.
Speaking at the opening of the 12th RECOWA/CERAO Rectors’ Conference in Accra, Ghana, 1st Vice President and Bishop of the Koforidua Diocese, Ghana, Most Rev. Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum stressed that the Church’s liturgy, its history, theology, and practice must be understood and respected by seminarians from the very beginning of their formation. He said, “These are very, very important aspects that every seminarian is expected to know.”
The Bishop noted that if seminarians do not fully grasp the Church’s liturgical norms during their formation, they risk deviating from these practices once they are ordained. “If, for example, a priest in the seminary, a formator, does not mind how he celebrates the Eucharist, it becomes a problem because that is what the young people are going to learn,” he said.
Bishop Afrifah-Agyekum underlined that liturgy should never be treated as a mere performance, but as an expression of the Church’s sacred tradition. “You can’t celebrate the Mass without preparation. It is important that we let them understand that you just don’t get up and go and stand behind the altar and celebrate the Mass because then, in that case, it becomes like what you call just a performance,” he explained.
Highlighting the role of the seminary as the first place where seminarians should be taught how to celebrate the sacraments with reverence and understanding, the Bishop cautioned rectors against neglecting liturgical formation.
Bishop Afrifah-Agyekum described how some newly ordained priests, feeling liberated from the constraints of seminary life, may begin to introduce unauthorised liturgical practices. “By the time you realise, those who have just been ordained, it’s like in the vernacular, ‘I have left the seminary, I’m free. I can do what I want,’” he said. He pointed to the misuse of incense, the improper handling of liturgical vestments, and the blending of liturgy with entertainment elements as examples of liturgical aberrations.
He also addressed the growing issue of compromised sacramental materials, such as substandard hosts and unapproved Mass wine, warning that these practices threaten the sanctity of the Eucharist. “People are now selling communion wine, which is accepted by the non-Catholic Anglicans and now the so-called Pentecostals,” the Bishop observed. That is not acceptable,” he said.
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