His Eminence Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference, on Tuesday called on people who had been urging the Churches to pray for peace for the country to work towards this goal.
He said it was wrong for people to ask the Churches to pray for peace while their actions did not engender peace.
His Eminence Peter Cardinal who is also the Catholic Archbishop of Cape Coast, said these when he opened a meeting of the Conference at Damongo in the West Gonja District.
The meeting, which is on the theme: "The role of the Laity in the church", would offer the forum for dialogue between the priests and the laity to promote the activities of the Catholic Church.
It will also discuss the maintenance of peace in the country and the West Africa Sub-region, as well as the state of infrastructure development in the country.
His Eminence Peter Cardinal said no amount of prayers could bring peace to the country if the actions of some people were inimical to peace.
He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to actively work towards peace to enhance the development the country.
His Eminence Peter Cardinal said the Catholic Church had been praying that the crises in the country and other parts of the West Africa Sub-region would not escalate into wars.
He said the Church had undertaken development projects to complement government's efforts, adding, "this gesture should not be misconstrued as a competition between the Church and the State".
His Eminence Peter Cardinal said the Church was also involved in programmes aimed at enhancing education since that would enable the people to read and understand the Bible.
He announced that the Catholic University at Fiapre in the Brong Ahafo Region, was considering establishing a satellite campus at the Unity Centre in Damongo to offer a programme in Peace Studies.
He said the Church had trained election observers to monitor the December elections towards free and fair polls as it did in 2000.
The Most Reverend Philip Naameh, Catholic Bishop of Damongo, said the area was among the most deprived in the country due to neglect by colonial and post colonial governments adding that
the diocese was among the highest illiteracy rate areas in the country with women accounting for 96 per cent.
He also said poverty was prevalent there with majority of the people in subsistence farming and that there were no industries to offer jobs for the people, especially the youth.
Bishop Naameh said poor communication and road network affected the development of the area and cited that the Fufulso-Sawla trunk road linking the Northern Region to the Upper West Region had been in a deplorable state for many years.
He expressed concern that the Mole National Park, which was a great national asset had not been properly developed to enhance tourism thus depriving the people of the full benefits of the natural resource.
Bishop Naameh commended the chiefs and people of the area for maintaining peace and appealed to the Conference to included their concerns in its communiqué to the government.
The Yagbonwura, Bawa Doshie, Paramount chief of the Gonja Traditional Area, appealed to the Catholic Church to initiate development projects in the area, particularly the provision of potable water for the people.