The Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom in Ghana’s Eastern Region, which began as a Prefecture on April 17, 2007, and was raised to the status of a Vicariate in 2010, is for the first time in its history hosting the Annual Retreat of the Diocesan Priests.
In past years, the Priests have had to move out of the Vicariate for the Retreat.
The Annual Retreat, which began on the evening of November 10, 2025, and will end on November 15, 2025, is taking place at the Alfons Merten’s Center in Donkorkrom under the theme: There is Hope; Do Not be Afraid. It is being directed by Rev. Fr. Ebenezer Kofi Hanson, a Priest of the Archdiocese of Accra.
In a homily during the Opening Mass of the Retreat, in a make-shift Chapel at the Center, Fr. Hanson challenged his brother Priests against doing things to be recognized; to be celebrated, because they are not “celebrities,” maintaining that Christ himself, with all His power, was never celebrated. He was treated as though he were a criminal and was even abandoned by his closest collaborators.
For him, Priests are only servants, sharing in the ministry of Christ, who had learnt to obey through suffering. They should only look forward to the acknowledgment that awaits them in Heaven, and should draw inspiration from the quotation in the First Reading (Wisdom 2:23-3:9): “the Salvation of the just comes from the Lord”.
Reflecting on the Gospel from Luke 17:7-10, the homilist drew the attention of the Priests to the actions of Christ with his disciples in the Upper Room, where he washed their feet and fed them, as a practical example of unworthiness and service, which all must follow.
According to him, once a Priest is ordained, he no longer has a will of his own; his will has been “configured into the Will of the one who suffered to the point of death”. Priests must therefore appreciate the fact that they are just servants in the hands of God. They have been “bought and owned,” as echoed in 1Cor. 6:20.
He bemoaned the growing tendency that some priests, right from their seminary days, begin to imagine their places of appointment, aiming for the bigger parishes, at the detriment of the hinterlands, and when their dreams do not come through, they feel frustrated.
Reflecting further on the life of St. Martin of Tours, whose Memorial it was, he entreated his fellow Priests to try to live as though everything they did depended on Christ, and they should always look up to the One who had called them into His service.
“We are not a mistake. We are here because we want to serve God, and God has called us,” he underpinned, invoking the intercession of the Blessed Mother on the retreatants.
His Lordship, Most Rev. John Alphonse Asiedu, SVD, couldn’t be present at the Retreat because the Bishops’ Annual Plenary Assembly was taking place at the same time at Damongo, in the Savannah Region.
By Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR (DEPSOCOM – AVD)
