Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR – Donkorkrom.

Some of these measures, being championed, include celebrating Masses for special needs, participating actively in day celebrations of environmental care, integrating environmental teachings into Catechesis, sermons, and Church group gatherings.

Devastation of the Afram Plains

The environment has been abused in so many ways in Ghana, and the Catholic Church is calling out for its urgent restoration. The country is losing its beautiful and serene landscape due to devastating human activities. The Afram Plains in the eastern region, for instance, suffer severely from continuous bushfires and indiscriminate tree cutting for timber and charcoal.

“The entire Afram Plains area, which used to be a thriving Cocoa-growing area, is now depleted of its forest cover and economic trees, affecting the rainfall pattern and causing untold hardship to the inhabitants who are mainly peasant farmers engaged in rain-fed agriculture,” laments Bishop John Alphonse Asiedu, of the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom.

Ghana: Clean-up Campaign at Sunyani (Photo Credit: Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR)

Solution seekers – the Church of Ghana

There has been ongoing sensitisation for environmental protection in different parts of the country. The 2025 national Catechists conference held recently at Donkorkrom was on the theme: “Our Call to Care for the Environment: a divinely assigned responsibility.”

The same theme was chosen for this year’s Catechetical week.

The Bishops are also encouraging the celebration of Holy Mass for particular intentions, including Masses that relate to nature, the environment, sanctification of human labour, at Seedtime, after the harvest, during times of food deficiency and periods of drought – all of which circumstances are found in the Missal.