Mass in Ghana

I didn’t think that I would get to attend mass while in Ghana, but our first stop with the group was the Catholic Orthopedic Center in Nsawam for two days.  We arrived Saturday night, so after asking a man who works at the center, Henry, I found out that there was a Catholic church in town, and I was honestly extremely excited to attend mass, especially in Africa! And I know this is only my fourth day and there are many more days to come, but going to mass was my favorite part so far.

I was planning on going there by myself, but it was pouring rain and Henry came and told me that they were going to give me a ride.  As I left, another student named Lindsey decided to come, even though she isn’t Catholic, and two patients at the Orthopedic Center went as well.

Before mass, they had music and then some sort of prayer service (I think). The service was in their language, Twi, so a lot of it I didn’t understand.  We got there early and got a seat, but as mass started, the pews were packed.   There were probably over 10 people besides the priest helping out at the altar, which is different than the 6ish that I’m used to back home.

The main thing that made me enjoy mass so much was the music.  The people are all so spirit-filled it is absolutely amazing.  We clapped to every single song, but they weren’t just clapping to the beat.  There were different patterns for different songs; it was interesting. And the dancing! While the priest was preparing the altar for communion, the congregation was singing and most were sitting down, but some were standing up dancing. But it wasn’t only people in the congregation dancing and clapping.  The priest and altar servers would clap and sway and dance a little bit too.  It was the coolest thing. And the music wasn’t calm, church music you would hear back home or in Europe, it was loud, joyful, and exactly how I would imagine an African American Baptist church in the South.  The songs were very, very long.  The service altogether lasted about 2 hours, (and we had to leave right before the closing song because our group was leaving to do other things), but it lasted so long because the songs lasted so long.  And at the end of every song, they would wake their handkerchiefs or just their hands up in the air like they were waving hello or goodbye.

The priest was amazing.  I couldn’t understand everything he said because most of his homily was in Twi, but I knew it was great.  He would switch off from Twi to English every once in a while, so I did get a little bit out of it. The little bit that I did get was that just like you eat to nourish your body, you need to nourish your spirit with Jesus.  After mass, I learned that every first Sunday of the month, they do the entire service in English, but that was not today. I still really enjoyed it though, even though I had no idea what was being said for the most part.

I am so glad I got to attend mass while in Ghana, even if it was just for this one Sunday.  Now I can say I have been to mass in America, Europe, AND Africa! I am so very blessed.