The church must lead attitudinal change towards environmental stewardship — Bishop Attakruh 

The Most Reverend John Baptist Attakruh, the Bishop of Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese of the Catholic church, has called on the church to lead the charge in promoting attitudinal change among the citizenry towards environmental stewardship.  

He said the church must play a pivotal role influencing individual behaviours and public policies by teaching and embodying principles of care for the environment to ensure safe living for all.  

He said this when he delivered the 2025 Moreau Murat Memorial Lectures, on the theme: “The Call to all People of Goodwill on the Climate Crisis in View of Laudate Deum – the Marshallan.” 

The two-day biennial lecture, held at the Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Cathedral in Takoradi, was organised by the Knights and Ladies of Marshall as part of its Centenary Celebrations.  

Most Rev Attakruh cited a document from Pope Francis on climate change said its impact would increasingly prejudice the lives of families with its accompanying effects on healthcare, employment, education, and access to resources among others.  

“Pope Francis emphatically stated that climate change is a global social issue and one that is intimately related to the dignity of human life,” he stated.  

He said in recent times, Ghanaians had witnessed an alarming rate of deterioration of the environment through human activities like indiscriminate littering of plastic waste, garbage heaps and illegal mining (galamsey).  

The Bishop said: “Galamsey activities particularly, have destroyed forests in the Western, Eastern and Ashanti regions compromising air quality, carbon concentration, soil fertility.” 

However, Most Rev Attakruh stated that from a Christian perspective, stewardship of the environment aligned with God’s mandates to humanity emphasizing responsibility, care, sustainable practices. 

He, thus, asked the church to change behaviours through sermons, bible studies, liturgy and church-led community projects to raise awareness and mobilize actions to protect the environment from destruction.  

The biennial Moreau Murat Memorial Lecture was instituted in 1989 by the Knights and Ladies of Marshall to honour the memory of Sir James Marshall, Rev Father Auguste Moreau, and Rev Fr Eugene Murat, of the Society of African Missions (SMA), who contributed Immensely to the establishment of the Catholic Mission in the Gold Coast in 1880. 

Source: GNA