The Thanksgiving Mass for the Emeritus Bishop of the Wiawso Diocese in Ghana’s Western North Region, the Most Rev. Joseph Francis Kweku Essien, is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 3, 2024.
In a January 4 notice issued by the Most Rev. Samuel Nkuah-Boateng, Catholic Bishop of Wiawso and addressed to all Priests, Religious and the lay faithful of the Diocese, indicated that the ceremony would take place at the at the new Our Lady of Annunciation Cathedral at Wiawso at 9:30am.
On Friday, February 2, a day before Emeritus Bishop Essien’s thanksgiving Mass, there would be the diaconate ordination of some candidates at the new Cathedral same time, the notice seen by Newswatcgh.com indicated.
Bishop Emeritus Essien was born on November 28, 1945 at Nkroful, near Sekondi to Joseph Kobina Essien and Helena Krah (Nana Nwewa) both of blessed memory.
He had his second cycle education at Fijai Secondary School from 1961 to 1966 and proceeded to St. Teresa’s Minor Seminary, Amisano, Elmina, in 1969 and completed in 1971. In the same year, he entered the St. Peter’s Regional Seminary, Pedu, Cape Coast, during which he studied Philosophy and Theology and completed in 1977.
After his successful completion, he was ordained as a Priest by the Most Rev. Joseph Amihere Essuah on July 10, 1977 for the Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese. After his ordination, he worked as an Assistant Priest at St. Agatha Parish, Sefwi Asafo from 1977 to 1980. He was transferred to the Star of the Sea Cathedral Parish, Takoradi as an Assistant Priest from 1980 to 1981.
In 1981, he went to the Ghana Military Academy upon the recommendation of the Most Rev. Charles Kweku Sam, then Bishop of the Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese. He successfully passed out from the Military Academy in 1982 and was commissioned same year as a Lieutenant. He served as a Chaplain in the Ghana Armed Forces from 1982 to 1999.
Bishop Emeritus Essien was elected Bishop for the newly created Wiawso Diocese in December 1999, ordained and installed as Bishop on March 25, 2000 for the Catholic Diocese of Wiawso with a Motto: “Your will, not mine, be done.”
The Principal Consecrator at his episcopal ordination and installation in 2000 was then Archbishop Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Archbishop of Cape Coast now Cardinal and his Principal Co-Consecrators were Archbishop Dominic Kodwo Andoh, Archbishop of Accra and Archbishop André Pierre Louis Dupuy, Titular Archbishop of Selsea, then Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana.
As a Bishop, he has held several positions including heading the Cape Coast Province’s Department for Judicial Matters and member of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference’s Department of Pastoral Ministry and Evangelization.
Following his resignation as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Wiawso, the Holy Father, Pope Francis on January 26, 2023, appointed Very Rev. Fr. Samuel Nkuah-Boateng as the second Bishop of the Diocese. Bishop Emeritus Essien was the Principal Co-Consecrator of Bishop Samuel Nkuah-Boateng on Friday, April 23, 2023 at the St. Joseph Senior High School, Sefwi Datano
During his Episcopal Ordination thanksgiving Mass on Sunday April 23, 2023, Bishop Nkuah-Boateng thanked Bishop Essien for his spiritual support and the numerous developments he had brought to the Diocese as Bishop for 23years.
The Catholic Diocese of Wiawso is a Suffragan Diocese of the Archdiocese of Cape Coast. The Diocese was originally part of the Diocese of Sekondi-Takoradi which in itself was carved out of the Archdiocese of Cape coast on November 20, 1969. Currently, the Dioceses of Wiawso, Sekondi-Takoradi, and Archdiocese of Cape Coast form the Cape Coast Province.
The creation of the Catholic Diocese of Wiawso was conceived in 1994 by the then Bishop, Rt. Rev. Charles Kweku Sam of blessed memory.
The sudden death of Bishop Sam on January 13, 1998, brought this beautiful idea to a standstill. However, when Bishop John Martin Darko took over as the 3rd Bishop of Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese on July 11, 1998, he worked tirelessly to bring the dream of his predecessor to a reality.
Therefore, Holy Father Pope John Paul II, now St. John Paul II, created the Catholic Diocese of Wiawso and appointed Most Rev. Joseph Francis Kweku Essien as her first Bishop on December 22, 1999. The diocese was officially inaugurated with the ordination and installation of the bishop on March 25, 2000.
At the creation of the Diocese of Wiawso, the Diocese had nine parishes. Those parishes included: St. Teresa, Bibiani; St. Agatha, Asafo; Immaculate Conception, Enchi; St Joseph, Wiawso; St Paul, Adjoafua; St Benedict, Bekwai; St. Joseph, Afere; St. Theresa, Yawmatwa and St. Michael, Dadieso. Again, the Diocese started with 21 Diocesan Priests. There were five religious Brothers and three Sisters. Number of Seminarians where seven.
As of April 2023, the Diocese can boast of 32 Parishes, three Rectorates, 59 Priests, three members of Institutes of Pontifical Right, two members of Institutes of Diocesan Right and 37 Seminarians.
Geographically, the Wiawso Diocese is coterminous with the Western North Region of Ghana which is typically a rain forest region. It has a total land area of 8,696 square kilometres and a population of 880,855 (2021 Population Census). Wiawso Diocese is bounded by eight Dioceses. It is bounded by Sunyani diocese to the north; Goaso to the north-east; Kumasi Archdiocese to the east; Obuasi diocese to the south-east; Cape Coast Archdiocese and Sekondi-Takoradi diocese to the south; then the dioceses of Grand Bassam and Abengourou both in the Republic of La Cote D’Ivore to the west.
Administratively, there are nine administrative municipalities/districts located in the diocese. They are Wiawso Municipality, Bibiani-AhwiasoBekwai Municipality, Aowin Municipality, Suaman District, Juaboso District, Bodi District, Akontombra District, Bia West District and Bia East District. Traditionally, there are six paramount seats in the Diocese: Anhwiaso, Bekwai, Sefwi Wiawso, Aowin, Suaman and Chirano.
The Catholic Diocese of Wiawso is located in an area where the population consists of Christians, Muslims and Traditional adherents. The total number of baptized Catholics is 52,306. Members of other Christian denominations are estimated to be 320,845. Followers of non-Christian religions are also estimated to be 64,052. The total number of non-Catholics is 384,505.
All the religious denominations in the Diocese co-exist peacefully. Wiawso diocese lies in one of the richest regions in Ghana, endowed with resources such as gold, bauxite, cocoa, timber and foodstuffs.
The main languages spoken by the people are Sehwi, Brossa and Anyii. However, due to migration a variety of languages is now spoken in the Diocese. In view of this, the general population in the Diocese can be described as heterogeneous. The people in the Diocese are generally subsistence farmers. A few of them are traders, artisans, commercial drivers. Very few of them are in the white-collar jobs.
By Damian Avevor//Newswatchgh.com
