Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni
The Clergy in the Catholic Church and Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye, in particular, do not learn; they preach repentance but they themselves do not want to repent. I am a Catholic and find Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye’s article very distasteful. I also find his disclaimer at the end of the article illogical and deceptive because his position is inarguably in support of his colleague, Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni.
At the last ordination of Priests at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra, His Grace Archbishop Palmer-Buckle said as a prelude to the message from the Pope that the ceremony was a day for rejoice but there were dark clouds hanging over the church referring to the numerous very damaging cases of abuse by the clergy that have bedevilled the Catholic Church. These cases have led to the resignations of Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals and His Holiness Pope Emeritus Benedict for failing to deal with the issues appropriately or cover-up.
The truth of the matter is that Rev. Fr. Prof. Afful-Broni created and benefitted from the crisis at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) but he is now engulfed by the very mess he created. For Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni, a Catholic Priest to hide behind Supi Kwayera and Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markins, leaking documents to them in the darkness of the night for the sole purpose to destroy his boss in order to take over his post should be a matter of concern to the Catholic Church.
Rev. Fr. Prof. Afful-Broni can do the same in the church. I think the deafening silence of the Archbishop of Cape Coast and the Catholic Bishops Conference and their failure to find a dignified way for Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni out of the mess he finds himself coupled with the fact that the Catholic Bishops Conference is known to be sympathetic to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) forced the Minority (National Democratic Congress) Caucus in Parliament to call for the intervention of the Pope.
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye stated that he wrote the article in his capacity as a Catholic Priest and his loyalty to and fight for the course of his colleague Fr. Prof. Afful-Broni was abundantly clear. He also made profound far-reaching statements as if he was speaking for the Catholic Church as a whole. This was scandalous for which I call on his superiors to bring him to order.
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye failed to look at the larger picture and engaged in very myopic analysis of the press statement issued by the Minority Caucus in Parliament. The members of the Minority Caucus in Parliament are well-educated people and knew very well what they were doing. Their call on the Pope to intervene in the impasse at UEW was a firm indication of the fact that they had no confidence in the Catholic Bishops and a call on the Pope was a call on the Catholic Church as a whole. I am worried and I expect Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye to be equally worried about this development and not to simply regard it as a misplaced call.
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye appears to be insensitive to the plight of the members of staff of the UEW who were at the receiving end of the vindictive and unjustifiable dismissals, suspensions and demotions. Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni was sent to the UEW as a Chaplin by the Catholic Church and he is still a Catholic Priest, therefore the Catholic Church certainly has a role to play in resolving the UEW crisis. Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye’s blind support to Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni is certainly not the solution to the problems but only a repetition of the cover-up of clergy abuses that have bedevilled the Catholic Church.
