FIFTH CARDINAL DERY MEMORIAL LECTURE, WA

Topic: Women Empowerment and Development: The Legacy of Cardinal Dery

                               

  Date: 11th May, 2013

Venue: Auditorium of Pope John XXIII Centre, Bamahu

                            

PROGRAMME

Friday, 10th May, 2013

5.30 p.m.               All convene at the Jubilee Park

6.00 p.m                                Prayer Service

                                Candle Light procession to the Cathedral

7.30 p.m.                               Eucharistic Celebration  president, Bishop of Wa

Saturday, 11th May, 2013

9.30 a.m.               Arrival of  Guests

10.00 a.m.             Opening Prayer

                                Introduction of Chairman by Mad. Catherine Millar

                                Chairman’s  Acceptance Speech

                                Acknowledgement of Guests and other dignitaries

                                Welcome Address by the Bishop of Wa, Most Rev. Paul Bemile

                                Address by Guest of Honour , The Regional Minister, Wa

                                Short Biography of  Peter Cardinal Porekuu Dery, Fr. P. Bekye

                                Drama on the life of Cardinal Dery,

                                Lecture : Women Empowerment and Development: The Legacy of

                                Peter Cardinal Porekuu Dery, by Mrs. Angelina  Domakyaare

                                Fundraising; animated by Dr. Jane Lobnibe

                                Optional Speeches

                                        1. Most Rev. Philip Naameh, Archbishop of Tamale

                                         2. Most Rev. Gregory E. Kpiebaya, Archbishop Emeritus of Tamale                                          

                                Chairman’s Closing Remarks

                                Vote of Thanks

                                Closing Prayer

1.00 p.m.               Refreshments and Recess

Support the cause of Cardinal Dery
Donations to:

Cardinal Dery Memorial Lectures Fund

Bank Name.         Barclays Bank, Wa Branch

Acc. Name:           Pope John XXIII Centre

Bank Number      088/1065401

Thank you

REPORT 5^TH CARDINAL DERY MEMORIAL LECTURE – WA

MAY 11, 2013.

Place

On Saturday, 11^th May, 2013, the 5^th Cardinal Dery Memorial Lecture took place at the Pope John XXIII Centre in Wa. We, the organizing committee, were very happy that this was possible at this time, since the Cardinal himself initiated the Centre after his elevation as Cardinal in 2006. Since that time we have been steadily working to develop the structures of the Centre with a chapel, a staff house, a students’ hostel, a resource centre and now the Cardinal Dery Auditorium, which is still under construction – in fact, the contractor worked so hard, and just managed to put the roof on in time for the lecture! We therefore experienced this Lecture at this place as a kind of “home-coming”.

Preparations

When it was finally decided that Wa should organize the 5^th Cardinal Dery Memorial Lecture during the final Cardinal Dery Foundation Preparatory meeting on January 26, 2013, in Kumasi, the Management Board of Pope John XIII put together a nine-member organizing committee, which met six times before the Lecture to prepare for it, and once after the Lecture to evaluate the experiences and put down points that should be kept in mind for the future. During these meetings we carefully brought into focus the challenges that we would meet and shared the responsibilities amongst us. By meeting every two weeks we managed to get the Lecture properly organized and according to schedule. The committee brainstormed on the theme for the Lecture, the speaker and the overall planning of the event.

In view of this the Lecture event was prepared and celebrated in two parts:

-          Friday evening, 10^th May, 2013, we organized a special prayer service at the Wa Jubilee Park, from where we went in a candlelight procession to the Wa Cathedral where our Bishop, Most Rev. Paul Bemile, presided over a special Mass to commemorate the 5^th anniversary of the Cardinal’s death.

-          Saturday morning, May 11, 2013, the Lecture took place at Pope John XXIII Centre located at Kunfabialah, on the south-side of the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies.

The Committee took care to send out special invitations to key persons who had a special role to play: the speaker, the chairperson, the facilitator, guests of honour, all MP’s of the Upper West Region, all Catholic Bishops of Ghana, and identified individuals and groups of people to be invited.

Theme and speaker.

During the brainstorming it became clear that we wanted to highlight the Cardinal’s concern about the liberation of women in our traditional society: a concern that found expression in a number of specific initiatives while he was alive. Therefore we decided on the theme: “WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: THE LEGACY OF CARDINAL DERY`.

We suggested three possible speakers, and finally settled on Mrs. Dr. Angelina Domakyaareh, a beneficiary of Cardinal Dery´s educational efforts through the St. Francis Girls´ Senior High School in Jirapa. She was requested to do some research into the Cardinal´s life and written memoirs, and present his ideas and values on this topic as a challenge to our present day society. She readily agreed and together we worked steadily towards the event of May 11, 2013. 

Attendance

We initially estimated that we would be able to attract about 500 people for this event, especially since we sent special invitations to women groups challenging them to further reflect on and appropriate the values that the Cardinal stood for, especially in the area of women promotion. On the whole the response of these groups was good and very encouraging.

During the evaluation it became clear that we had missed out on an important group, namely young people, especially young women. A main cause of this was the fact that at the time of the Lecture, Senior High Schools were on holidays, and the few students on the campuses were candidates who were writing their final WAECSCE examinations. Students of the University for Development Studies were also on holidays. In spite of the above it was good to note that a delegation of students from Nandom Senior High School came to grace the occasion.

All participants at the Lecture were refreshed afterwards with water and a packed lunch, together with a bottle of soft drink. Specially invited guests (about 50) were given lunch at the Catholic Guest House, Tiegber.

On the whole people responded very well to our invitation, so that we had an attendance of about 600. We realized that there is definitely a great interest among people in Ghana, and beyond, for Cardinal Dery and his ideas and values.   

Fundraising

While preparing for this event we thought about ways and means to finance the preparation as well as the event itself. We thought about requesting some special sponsorship from companies such as RLG, Vodaphone, etc. but as a matter of fact we started too late to make the necessary contacts and so that did not materialize.

We also printed special envelopes for the event which we sent out, asking individuals and organisations in the Upper West, and beyond, to donate generously. Each received the programme and the invitation together with the donation’s envelope. In this matter individuals and groups have responded generously, though not all, and we are very grateful to all these generous individuals and groups of persons.

At the end of the lecture Mr. Justin Kpan did some special fundraising among the participants and generated a generous response in terms of cash on the spot and pledges to be redeemed 

Overall the result is as follows:

-          Expenditure: GhC10,890.55

-          Income:         GhC14,832.70

 Evaluation

On the whole the organizing committee was very satisfied with the way the event was organized, and especially with the way in which the special groups preformed their duties. We think here of the:

-          Decoration committee

-          Publicity committee

-          Transport committee

-          Ushers

-          Sound equipment team

-          Furniture

The one matter that could have improved the overall performance would have been to have a special secretariat to register all participants, and also the proceedings, so as to give us an accurate picture of the attendants for us to get a proper idea of the public interest in these events. The ushers were supposed to do so, but unfortunately they could not manage the crowd. The same holds for coupons for those invited to the lunch at the Catholic Guest House. This also did not really function well because we did not have someone at the Guest House to receive the coupons, and so more than the expected invited guests entered into the hall to be served. But the media was invited, and they did a good reporting job on the event for the information of the Ghanaian public.

 Future

During an evaluation meeting with our Bishop, Most Rev. Paul Bemile, we discussed the above and also the future of the Lectures and its timing.

Upon reflection we agreed with the idea that the lectures rotate among interested dioceses in the country. So far it has been as follows:

-          2009 – 1^st Cardinal Dery Memorial Lecture in Wa.

-          2010 – 2^nd CDML in Accra.

-          2011 – 3^rd CDML in Tamale.

-          2012 – 4^th CDML in Kumasi.

-          2013 – 5^th CDML in Wa.

We would be grateful if other dioceses would be ready to organize the lecture. In connection with this we are thinking of Cape Coast to host the Lecture for 2014! Suggestions are welcome in this regard.

Also suggestions should be sent in regarding possible topics to be treated during subsequent lectures. Bishop Paul Bemile suggested that the next lecture could focus on the role of Cardinal Dery in building the Church, especially in Ghana. Other topics are hereby invited.

Another important observation was made by Bishop Bemile, speaking for some of his brother bishops. Some Bishops are suggesting that the Lecture be organized in the second half of May. The date chosen so far is to have the lecture as close as possible to May 8, for it was on May 8, 1960, that the Cardinal was ordained bishop in Rome by Pope John XXIII, and so he held this date as particularly dear him. But this period coincides with the Budget Meeting of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, which usually comes on around the first week of May. This suggestion is for the consideration of all, to enable our Bishops also participate; suggestions are welcome.

This report is distributed to all those involved in the organisation of the Cardinal Dery Memorial Lectures so far, and other persons who have a stake in perpetuating the legacy of Cardinal Dery. We hope it will generate new ideas, and at the same time give all of us the feeling that we are part and parcel of this noble endeavour to keep the memory and the legacy of Cardinal Dery alive and going on. 

 Submitted by Bro. Albert Ketelaars FIC

Secretary, Preparatory Committee

Pope John XXIII Centre, Wa