Churches should fix new dates for Easter celebrations – Dr. Opuni-Frimpong

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Churches should fix new dates for Easter celebrations – Dr. Opuni-Frimpong

Christians observe Palm Sunday to usher in Easter festivities.

A former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Reverend Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, has asked heads of churches to consult the office of the President to fix a befitting date for the 2020 Easter celebration.

Speaking Tuesday, March 17, 2020, on the PM Express on JoyNews Dr Opuni-Frimpong said the annual Easter activities which have biblical roots but fixed by the World Council of Church, could be celebrated on a later date based on the advice of the President and his health experts.

According to him, since the four-week suspension of all social gatherings by the President would eat into the Easter period, which is scheduled to start on April 10, it would be advisable for the Christian leadership to have a conversation to propose a new date that is most suitable for the Easter.

“It should not just be that the President said that and so we are not celebrating Easter. If we can’t do it between April 10 to 12…we can say that for our own peculiar situation in Ghana, we will celebrate 2020 Easter maybe in May or in June depending on the situation by that time,” he told host, Evans Mensah.

He said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, the Christian Council of Ghana, and other church leaders should speak among themselves to enable all of them fixed a date to mark the period, which is very important in the lives of the Church.

The lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) argues this will show “how matured” the church is in Ghana.

He said the peculiar challenge of CONVID-19 emphasised the need for the church to be united than never before, so it could stand with each other to bear the world in prayer.

He has however advised Christians not to over-spiritualise COVID-19, saying it is a global challenge that affects everybody and so “we only need to listen to those who have the knowledge about it so we will be able to protect our members.”

He said, “this is not the time to call people to come and buy oil and water, or asking church members to ignore what the professionals are saying. We are not in ordinary times so we must avoid spiritualisation of the virus”.

Meanwhile, Rev Opuni-Frimpong has expressed optimism that there would soon be a solution to the pandemic, saying, many countries were working around the clock to find a vaccine.

He, therefore, urged all people to remain calm and adhere to the advice of the technical and health experts until an antidote was found