Four Ghanaian Catholic Bishops ordained on May 28, 1995, celebrate 25 years in Episcopacy today May 28, 2020.
The Prelates, Most Rev Philip Naameh, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale and President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Rev Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Bishop of Konongo Mampong Diocese, Most Rev Anthony Kwami Adanuty, Bishop Emeritus of Keta-Akatsi Diocese and Most Rev Gabriel Akwasi Ababio Mante, Bishop of Jasikan Diocese are four out of five Bishops who had their Episcopal ordination on the same day.
The fifth Bishop, Archbishop Thomas Kweku Mensah former Bishop of Obuasi Diocese has however passed on to eternity.
ARCHBISHOP NAAMEH-PROFILE
Ghanaian Archbishop Philip Naameh is the Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale and the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
The Prelate was born on September 8, 1948, at Nandom-Ko in the Wa Diocese in the extreme Northwest of Ghana.
He was ordained a Priest on December 16, 1977, in Our Lady of Nativity Church in Ko, Ghana
As a priest, he studied at “Westfaelische: – the Wilhems University of Munich in Germany and at the University of London, where he graduated with a Ph.D. in Church History. Although he is originally from Wa, he was incardinated in the Archdiocese of Tamale.
During 1978-1981 he was Curate at Cathedral at Tamale, where he was also the Vocations Director and Chaplain of Lay Apostolate.
He then went for studies from 1981-1986 in Germany and London from where he became the Vice-Rector and Lecturer in Church History at St. Victor’s Regional Seminary, Tamale from 1986-1992.
On February 3, 1995, he was appointed Bishop of the new Diocese of Damongo, followed by the Episcopal consecration on May 28, 1995.
Archbishop Philip Naameh has headed the Archdiocese of Tamale since 2009 and he is described as “one of the rare presidents of African bishops’ conferences who has taken up the issue of sexual abuse in the Church and made it his pastoral priority”.
BISHOP JOSEPH OSEI-BONSU- PROFILE
Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu was born on 8 February 1948 and ordained a priest at the St. Peter’s Cathedral, Kumasi, on 3 August 1975 by the Most Rev. Peter Kwasi Sarpong. He worked at the St. Mary’s Church, South Suntresu, Kumasi, for one year as an Assistant Parish Priest.
During this time he looked after 49 outstations of Mary’s Parish.
In September 1976 he went for further studies in the United Kingdom. He obtained a Ph.D. in New Testament Exegesis at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, in December 1980.
In April 1981 he was appointed lecturer in the Department for the Study of
Religions, University of Ghana, Legon, where he taught New Testament Studies, New Testament Greek, and Early Church History.
From October 1992 to January 1995 he was the Head of the Department for the Study of Religions, University of Ghana. He also taught New Testament at St. Paul’s Seminary, Sowutuom, Accra, on a part-time basis.
In 1992 he was appointed by the Pope to be a member of the International Theological Commission based in Rome. He held this post until October 1997.
Pastorally he worked as Chaplain to the Catholic community at the University of Ghana and at Kwabenya from 1981 to 1995. For over ten years he was the National Chaplain of the International Movement of Catholic
Students (Pax Romana), Ghana Federation. He worked at the University of Ghana from April 1981 till January 1995.
He was ordained bishop on 28 May 1995 along with four others in Accra. He was installed the first bishop of the Konongo-Mampong Diocese on 11 June 1995.
He is the Chairman of the Board of the Trustees of the Otumfuo Education Fund, Kumasi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University College of Ghana at Fiapre, near Sunyani, and a former member of the Ghana Education Service Council of the Ministry of Education.
From 1992 to 1997 he was a member of the International Theological Commission based in Rome and at that time under the presidency of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
He is currently a member of the Methodist-Catholic Dialogue Commission which comes under the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in Rome. He is the Chairman of the Ghana Association of Biblical Exegetes (GABES).
MOST REV. ANTHONY KWAMI ADANUTY- PROFILE
Most Rev. Anthony Kwami Adanuty was born on May 11, 1940, at Kpando to Mr. John Komla Adanuty of Kpando and Mad. Monica Abla Agbezuge of Anfoega. He had his elementary education at Kpando and Anfoega, and proceeded to St. Theresa’s Minor Seminary at Amisano, and then to St. Peter’s Major Seminary, Cape Coast. He was ordained a priest on July 31, 1966, at Kpando in the then Keta-Ho Diocese.
Soon after his ordination, he was posted to St. Mary’s Seminary Secondary School at Lolobi as a teacher and taught for one year from 1966 to 1967. During this period he was also the assistant priest of Lolobi Ashambi Catholic Church.
In 1967 to 1968, he was admitted to Urbanian University of Rome to pursue a licentiate programme in theology. And between 1968 and 1971, he continued his studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute of Rome as a student in exegesis and obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture.
Until his appointment as Bishop, the then Monsignor Anthony Adanuty worked in the Vatican as an officer in the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Propaganda fide). He was responsible for territories of Eastern and Southern Africa, as well as the Islamic section in Mission territories.
He was elected Bishop on December 19, 1994, consecrated Bishop on May 28, 1995, and enthroned as the first Bishop of the new catholic diocese of Keta-Akatsi on June 10, 1995. He was enthroned with a Papal Bull to Educate, to Govern, and to Sanctify in the Diocese of Keta-Akatsi.
The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, over the years, assigned several responsibilities to him. He served in the following capacities: Chairman of the Department of Judicial Matters, Chairman of the Department of Social Communications, Chairman of the Standard Newspapers and Magazines Limited, Chairman of the Department of Socio-Economic Development and the Vice Chairman of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
upon attaining the natural and canonical age of 75, he became the first Bishop Emeritus of Keta-Akatsi Diocese in 2016.
MOST REV. GABRIEL AKWASI ABABIO MANTE- PROFILE
The Most Rev Gabriel Akwasi Ababio-Mante, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jasikan was born on July 27, 1947, in Nkonya Ahenkro in the Volta Region of Ghana and ordained into Priesthood on July 2, 1977.
Together with four others, he had his Episcopal Ordination on May 28, 1995
Source: ADM NEWS