The Catholic Church in Kumasi has slapped a ban on indecent dressing by members of the church.The decision was taken at a meeting of church leaders in January 2011, but is now in the headlines after the issue of provocative dressing took centre stage in Parliament on Friday, February 19.
Over the last few years there have been growing concerns about increasing levels of indecent dressing within the church, as church leaders appear to have relaxed long standing dressing codes.
In a bid to reverse the trend, the Catholic Church announced a ban on indecent dressing over the weekend, with warnings that offenders will not be allowed to worship with the church.
Rev Monsignor Douglas Peters, Vicar General responsible for the Catholic Arch Diocese of Kumasi told Citi News that Ghanaians are copying blindly from the Western world and urged his congregation to be guided by the spirit of morality.
“We have been picking from other countries and we are destroying ourselves, not everything European or American is good for Ghana. We should be guided by morality, so if you are a fashion designer or Christian, be guided by the morality of the church, that is our goal”.
Rev Monsignor Douglas Peters rejected criticisms that the Church’s stance could offend constitutional provisions on freedom of expression.
“We are talking about freedom that gives you the opportunity covenantally to associate yourself with your God and that freedom should be dictated to you by your God and not you as a human being”.
“Your freedom ceases if you become a Christian and you listen to what God tells you. So it is not an imposition, we are not telling people not to do what they want to do but if you are truly a Christian and you are following Jesus Christ and you have particular ethics, then let that way of life be the life you lead”.