THE President of the International Council of Catholic Men (Unum Omnes), Sir Kt Edward Aloysius Prah, has committed himself to position the organisation in a better state than he inherited.
He said he intended to provide leadership to the Bureau of Unum Omnes to address challenges such as finances, dwindling membership, dwindling in-country membership of member organisations and lack of active participation by member organisations in the affairs of Unum Omnes outside the General Assembly Meetings.
“Having been a member of the last Bureau for two terms, my vision is to build on the achievements of my predecessor in all the areas of challenge indicated above, and leave Unum Omnes better than I inherited it,” he said.
Sir Kt Prah was sharing his vision in an interview with marshallan.org after he was elected as President of Unum Omnes at the just ended General Assembly meeting of the organisation in Vienna, Austria.
He becomes the first African to head the 67-year-old organisation.
Sir Kt Prah attended the September 26 to October General Assembly meeting in the company of Sir Kt. Tony Kemavor, the Continental Delegate of Unum Omnes to West Africa and Sir Kt. Derx Baffour, the official delegate of the Knights of Marshall.
Sir Kt Derx Baffour has also been appointed as the Knights of Marshall representative on the board of Unum Omnes for six years.
Achieving the vision
Sir Kt Prah said he would encourage member organisations to voluntarily increase their annual subscriptions according to their capacity as well as find innovative ways in their countries to raise funds to support activities of the International Body.
He said he would also revive interest in lapsed member organisations to rejoin Unum Omnes and increase African presence by at least five countries.
“In both cases, the strategies would include contacts through Bishops’ Conferences of the targeted countries. Already some positive results using similar contacts have emerged from Spain, Malta and Uganda.
“With the help of Knights of Marshall it should be possible to get Togo, Benin and Sierra Leone enrolled as well as La Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso in future when Councils are consecrated there,” he said.
Sir Kt Prah, who was the 27th Supreme Knight of the Knights of Marshall, indicated that he would further increase the visibility of Unum Omnes at the Vatican through the Pontifical Council for the Laity by regular contacts through visits, reports, voicing out opinions and publicly supporting the Church’s stand on International issues of interest to the Church.
That, he said, would also involve collaborating with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace to develop ways for individuals of member organisations to study and apply the Church’s Social Teaching in their social and professional lives as expression of their faith.
“It is clear from the above that there is work to be done which with the support of member organisations including Knights of Marshall can be accomplished to the Glory of God, the Noble Order of the Knights of Marshall , Ghana and Africa,” he added.
Honour to Noble Order
Sir Kt Prah dedicated the honour done me to the Noble Order of Knights and Ladies of Marshall, and prayed for God’s hand in this leadership responsibility.
He appealed to all Ghanaians, especially, brothers and sisters of the Noble Order to pray for him for the Lord to be his wisdom, strength and courage to lead Unum Omnes in the next three years.
Fact Sheet
The International Council of Catholic Men (Unum Omnes) was formed in September 1948 in Lourdes, France. The purpose was to bring Catholic Men of diverse countries to
- Solidarise with and learn from each other, best practices, advice and support in ways to bear evangelisation fruits at the different levels and structures of the world.
- To give an international dimension to Catholic living experience and apostolic service in diverse countries.
- To strengthen the bond of communion among Catholic men in order to make the witness of Catholic men more persuasive and their mission more effective.
Such were the ideals that formed the basis of the formation of Unum Omnes, to bring together all Catholic me irrespective of their origins. However, since its formation, only two Africans had served before Sir Kt Prah on the Bureau at the level of Vice president.
They include our revered Supreme Director.
The election of Sir Prah is a significant accomplishment demonstrating that whatever our origins are, we are all sons of the unam sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Eccelsiam.
The headquarters of Unum Omnes is at the Palazo San Calisto 00120 Citta del Vaticano (Vatican City).
Picture shows from right to left Sir Kt Victor Derx Baffour; Sir Kt Eddie Prah; Sir Kt Neil Kennedy (out-going President); Sir Kt Tony Kemavor and Sir Kt Seamus Mcdonald, the Secretary-General of Unum Omnes
Write up by W/Bro Albert K. Salia