Most Rev. Peter Paul Yelezuome Angkyier, has appealed for more Priests, infrastructure, and support from the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference to increase the Catholic population in the Damongo Diocese.
The Bishop of Damongo made his appeal during the opening of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference Plenary Assembly on 10th November 2025, which was under the theme, “A Synodal Church at the Service of Justice and Peace in Ghana”.
Addressing the assembly, Bishop Angkyier described an expanding rural diocese covering 25,906 square kilometers across five deprived districts, where over 86% of residents live in settlements of under 1,000 people, many of which are inaccessible during the rainy season.
He said, “The predominant faiths in the area are African Traditional Religion, animists, and Islam. It is a rural diocese and is coterminous with five of the most deprived civil districts of our country, ethnically diverse with over 23 known tribes.
According to Most Rev. Peter Paul Yelezuome Angkyier, the Diocese of Damongo, thirty years after its creation, remains a primary evangelization zone with just 31,614 Catholics, which is barely 7% of its 500,000 population.
The diocese is served by only 52 priests, 33 religious women, and six religious men for 13 parishes and nearly 180 outstations, which poses challenges to pastoral outreach.
“Given the problem related to physical accessibility, the heterogeneous nature of the ethnic groups and challenging socio-cultural issues, the diocese is severely challenged in terms of pastoral agents,” he said.
Despite the diocese’s growth from five to 13 parishes since 1995, Bishop Angkyier noted that, “There is also a challenge of inadequate infrastructure, i.e, basic structures”, calling on the Bishops’ Conference for their support.
By: Veronica Sena Amenya//Newswatchgh.com
