Abstract
The paper presents findings from a study that explored iconographic artforms and artworks in religious worship in Ghana with a focus on the Catholic culture. It involved a qualitative approach based on case studies of four major parishes purposively selected within the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Coast. In all, twenty-eight participants were interviewed and iconographic artworks and practices were observed over a period of one year. The participants were 4 priests, 4 catechists, 16 youth as well as 4 non-Catholics. From the findings, it was observed that, the church is intertwined with diverse artforms and artworks with specific meanings. The images constitute significant liturgical accoutrements such monstrance, chalice, thurible, signs and symbols that are used in the daily liturgical celebrations and seasonal ones such as Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil. Also, the youth indicated that the various imageries were not well disseminated to them by the leaders of the church. It is recommended that issues of the iconographic arts in Archdiocese of Cape Coast should be disseminated to youth to ease or do away with its uncertainties through strategic plans/activities in the Catholic Church. It is also recommended that, periodic activities should be organized for the public to expunge misconceptions of artworks used in the Catholic liturgy. This paper focuses on one of the parishes visited for the study, St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Assin Asempanaye in the Assin Bereku. Keywords: artforms, iconographic, liturgy, worship DOI: 10.7176/JPCR/53-03 Publication date: May30 th 2021
Highlights
In diverse cultural milieus, religion is associated with a sacred manner of rendering supplication to a Supreme deity
At the other side of the coin it was recorded that, despite the inability of the youth to attain the clear understanding of the pictures, the iconographic arts in the Catholic Church are not for just mere decorations, rather they are very peculiar and are in conformity with the biblical and Christian traditional records
Audio visual documentaries should be sent through SMS and other social media on handset phones so that www.iiste.org members especially the youth will be well vest with the various iconographic arts used in the church
Summary
Religion is associated with a sacred manner of rendering supplication to a Supreme deity. Such prayer request and worship are rendered in the form of words recitation and songs. People communicate with others through diverse means: religion, entertainment, and other social activities. In the spiritual realm of worship, people venerate the Supreme Being who is considered the creator of the universe. Religion is a special way of communicating to one’s creator. In the Christian religion, blessings and protection are integral results of prayers that form part of religious practices. Children and members who do not receive formal education have to be guided by certain art forms for easy understanding during worship
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