Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says materialism and the “get rich quick” syndrome is driving some people in society to kill and destroy.

He said there was the need for the Catholic Church and faith-based bodies to help the Government to address the problem of materialism and the “get rich quick” syndrome which was fast eroding the moral fabric of the Ghanaian society.

He appealed to the leadership of the Catholic Church and faith-based bodies to lay more emphasis in their sermons, the need for people to uphold high more values, such as hard work, honesty and integrity.

Dr Bawumia said this in a speech delivered on his behalf by Mr John Peter Amewu, the Minister of Railways Development, at the climax of the Centenary celebration of the building of the Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Minor Basilica in Navrongo, Upper East Region.

The celebration was on the theme; “100 years of existence of the Minor Basilica, celebrating our membership of the household of God, (Eph 2, 19).”

The history of the Minor Basilica dates back to 1906 with the arrival of three Missionaries of Africa, namely Reverend Fathers Jean-Marie Chollet and Oscar Morin and Reverend Brother Engene Gall from Burkina Faso.

They were given a place to settle in Navrongo where there was a colonial military presence, and they planted the seed of Catholicism, and built a Chapel, now known as the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows.

The Vice President congratulated the Catholic faithful of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese as they marked the Centenary of the construction of the first Catholic Church in Northern Ghana from 1920 to 2020.

Dr Bawumia said “For a Church that has been here 100 years, I must commend you for maintaining this beautiful edifice which has become one of our national tourist centres. I am informed that this Church is the mother Church and the cradle of Catholicism in Northern Ghana.”

He urged the congregants to follow the good example of the Missionaries and to remember that while good and sacrificial work might not be readily acknowledged, “Posterity will speak favourably of your good deeds in due time.”

In his sermon, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Most Reverend Henryk Mieczyslaw Jagodzinski called on the congregation to reflect on the sorrowful moments of the mother of Jesus Christ, Mary, when she went through suffering during the death of her son.

“Today, it will be good to stop a moment and think about our lady’s pain and sorrows. She is our mother, it will be good to stop for a moment and say to our lady, thank you for accepting to be mother when the angel said it to you.”

He said “It was there on Calvary that Jesus gave us Mary as our mother, not only to take care of us, but also that, we may feel that we are the offspring of this woman who is to overcome Satan.

“After all, this is why the Lord Jesus defeated Satan on Calvary so that each of us will introduce the fruit of that victory in his or her life,” the Apostolic Nuncio said.