by Cyril Clovis yabang Bruno

The signs in the celestial world that heralded the funeral of Peter Cardinal Porukuu Dery probably should not be allow escaping to any superstitious interpretation. More so as the funeral was planned to take place in our part of the world where some people obviously put more premium on and confidence in superstition above modernism with its espousaland logical explanation of these signs.

It is told that Traditionalists and native doctors alike also employ some form of logic to convince their clients to accept their findings and continue to be subservient, except that such reasoning largely lacks scientific basis.

Indeed, it is true that “when beggars die there are no comets seen” and that “the Heavens themselves bliss forth the death of princes,” and, of couse, the religious operators in the Treaditional setting would interpret these unusual signs to mean something ominous or something great about to happen to a great person.

Meteorologist would surely differ from my metapyhsical conjecture but the Shakespearean type of superstition aptly applied to events which preceded Cardinal’s funeral celebration.

The bad weather-disappearance of the stars, formation of dark clouds with accompanying strong winds and thunder – ruled out the possibility of befitting wake-keeping for a great man like Cardinal Dery in an open place. But the spirit of this Great man could be sensed acting like a kind of centrifual force and causing the imminent downpour to travel outwards Tamale.

Holding the funeral in the newly constructed sports stadium itself provokes two significant points. The first point is that which places the Cardinal’s Celebration of life as the first non-sporting event ever to be held in this brand new sporting edifice. It is the second point which probably becomes an issue; an issue on condition that people like William Shakespear and myself and others would still see superstition as convincing.

It would appear that the Funeral Planning Cmmittee members, and my boss is not exempted, acted shrewdly and intelligently when they sought to site the casket, containing the remains of this great man, off the turf and the race-track. It was good judgment on their part to completely dodge these two places to avoid the future wrath of any over-zealous club supporter, whether from north or south, neck-deep in superstitious belief to consoliny attribute the club’s whipping or woes to a funeral celebration on a turf.

It is common to hear people who believe in superstition claim the Cardinal was imbued with a spiritual gift that he often used to assist communities in the hinterland with bore-hole water systems. He usually used a stick in the shape of a catapult stick which guided him to locate the highest water table level to drill for water.

And personal interaction this writer had with some local community members in the Brefor, Lobi, Vagla and Gonja areas in the the north westerly part of the Northern Region associates Cardinal Dery’s name with rain. A teacher, Simon Belembe of the G.E.S. Sawla was very blunt that" Eh, anytime Bishop appears in town, the elders will say it will rain and surely it rained,” even though this may be a happenstance.

It can hardly be fathomed out what the plight of some people, particularly Dagaabas including myself, would have looked like, if Cardinal Dery had not stood resolute to the machinations and temptations of the Traditional Region whose practice is widely speculative.

Arguably, the socio-economic circumstance of some people could still have been better off by some other promptings but it cannot be disputed that the Cardinal by opting out of an economically viably profession of sorcery, whose practitioners often feed fat on ignoramus, to embracing a life of prayer and selfless devotion to God, has saved the lives of a multitude of people, regardless of tribe.

The recounting by the overseer for the Damongo Diocese, the Very Rev Philip Naamey, in his homily in Vigil Mass, that cardinal Dery trained people with hard currency in foreign Universities to be professionals only for some of these professionals to, in turn, selfishly direct their own children too to Cardinal Dery for the same sponsorship in even in local universities was a sincere perception of how the generality of people see this Philanthropist.

And I have no doubt in my mind that the best reward of people of this nurturing ought to have bestowed on the selfless Cardinal was at least not to go beyond what could best be described as the ” Multiple effect.”

The Cardinal strove to use this strategy, which eschewed every semblance of rapacity and selfishness, to develop the north. If the people graciously replicated what they benefitted from the good Cardinal without recourse to the he-is-not my-mother’s child syndrome, that would be the best reward.

A shining example of this Multiple effect is Dr Abdulai Salifu, alias JESUS (of Sekina Clinic, Tamale) who has devoted his entire life to caring for the needy including the insane immediately after his studies abroad.

Cardinal Dery was also a political accommodationist who tolerated all politicians, no matter their persuasion. Not withstanding, he could lash out at deviant leaders, without fear or favor, who would trample on the happiness of humanity with impunity, and it is this aspect of the life of the Cardinal that actually drew some of his admirers to the church. He would not hit-and-run but would simply say the truth and be adamant to the bewilderment of everyone in a society where people’s freedoms and rights were virtually muscled. 

Dear Reader, if you were fortunate to listen to a homily or a sermon of the Very Rev Akwasi Sarpong, the Archbishop Emeritus of Ashanti Region, then you would possibly be getting closer to understanding the character of Cardinal Dery.

The two Clergymen are characteristically equated, except that the one sited in the middle-belt of the country is often graded by his admirers above the Northerner because of his seemingly complete aberration for military dictatorships, which have always turned the clock of development backwards, rendering indigents, in particular, and worse off.

But, it bids my imagination why His Grace Akwasi Sarpong would continually take second seat, and only recently, in his homily in the Requiem Mass for the

Cardinal, he jokingly affirmed his position as Peter No.2 while assigning No. 1 and No. 3 to Peter Cardinal Porukuu Dery and Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson, the Cape Coaster, respectively.

Perhaps, Cardinal Dery’s imposing and fascinating religious personality was divinely given to charm even autocrats and dictators to him for penitence and salvation. Cardinal Dery is on record to be the first Dagao clergy ever to have consecrated a sitting Military Head of State in the person of Lt General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong in the OLA Cathedral church, Tamale in the Mid-70’s when, indeed, I was many years ahead of toddler to witness this magnificent ceremony.

The legacy of Cardinal Dery cannot be quantified, it is simply immeasurably and could take time to catalogue. As a human being, he was fallible and had a unique weakness of selflessness which he used to transform and save mankind-a replica of the deeds of Jesus Chrisrt. Indeed, if the Heavenly Kingdom is stratified, then Peter Cardinal Porukuu Dery must be part of the bedrock. May he rest in perfect peace.

Source: ISD (Cyril Clovis yabang Bruno)

Posted: 18/07/08

• Email this page
• Printer friendly version