The Most Rev. Peter Kwasi Sarpong, Archbishop Emeritus of Ghana’s Archdiocese of Kumasi, has stated that the late Most Rev. Gregory Ebo Kpiebaya, Archbishop Emeritus of Tamale, left his Archdiocese, the National and Universal Church, a rich legacy of apostolic zeal, patience, friendship, holiness and fidelity
In a remark prior to performing the final commendation on the remains of his friend and former colleague whom he affectionately called, “His Royal Highness” Archbishop Sarpong said he also devotedly performed his assignment with impeccable efficiency.
The Requiem Mass for the late Archbishop Kpiebaya at St. Charles Minor Seminary Senior High School in Tamale on 9 July, 2022 attracted many mourners including sixteen active members of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) led by their President, the Most Rev. Philip Naameh, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale, who presided over the Mass.
Archbishop Kpiebaya died on 31st May, 2022, at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. He was buried in the Our Lady of Annunciation Cathedral in Tamale in a private ceremony which was witnessed by the concelebrating Bishops, Superiors of Religious Congregations and some selected Laity representatives.
“In early terms, Gregory is dead. Every death has a message for the living”, Archbishop Sarpong stated, saying, “For the unbeliever, death is a pointer to the fact that all human beings will die. For the Christian, death is a road to life, he who believes in me, even though he dies will live again”.
“For the Religious, death is not what you are thinking, the vow of chastity, or obedience or poverty, but something else – a calling as Jesus tell him or her, follow me”, he explained.
He added, “For a Priest, death is a blooming tree. “Unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground, it remains a seed but if it dies, it produces many seeds”. For the Bishop, death is glory. He is another Christ who when his time came to depart from this world did not hesitate to say, “Father the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you”.
According to Archbishop Sarpong, the death of Archbishop Kpiebaya is a powerful sermon to Priests to be like him and to listen to the words of his Patron Saint, Gregory the Great who teaches that, “The Lord sends his disciples in twos in order to teach us silently that whoever fails in charity towards his neighbour should by no means take upon himself the office of preaching. And goes on to say, that the harvest is full the labourers are few, cannot be said without a heavy heart. For although there are many to hear the Good News, there are only a few to preach it. Indeed see how full the world is of Priests but yet, in God’s harvest, a true labourer is rarely to be found”.
He said Archbishop Kpiebaya was not a lazy labourer but “he was hard working, he was loving, he was holy, a true Priest who loved his neighbour by loving and suffering for them”, he insisted.
Other concelebrants at the Mass included the Most Revs. Henryk Mieczyslaw Jagodzinski, Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Stefan Zekorn, Auxiliary Bishop of Munster Diocese in Germany, His Eminence Richard Kuuia Baawobr, Cardinal-elect.
The Government of Ghana was represented by Mr. Shani Alhassan Shaibu, the Northern Regional Minister. Many other dignitaries including Mr. Alban Bagbin, Speaker of Parliament, Professor Jane Nana Opoku-Agyemang, running mate of former President John Mahama in the 2020 general election, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Leader, some Chiefs, Pastors from the Local Council of Churches, Imams, among others, attended the Mass.
Extolling the virtues of the deceased Prelate, the Most Rev, Paul Bemile, Bishop Emeritus of Wa who was the homilist, said the GCBC will continue to cherish him as a respected member who made unique contributions to the work and progress of the Conference.
He said he was for 24 years, the Bishop in-charge of Liturgy, 14 years a member of the Executive Board, 9 years the Chairman of the Department of Pastoral Care which embraces all Lay Apostolate Movements in Ghana, 3 years Episcopal Chairman of Pontifical Mission Society.
He said he would also be remembered for his services to the African and Universal Church, having served on various commissions of the Association of Episcopal Conference of Anglophone West Africa (AECAWA) as a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue for 5 years and Pontifical Council for the Family for 23 years.
He stated that even during the period of his retirement (2009-2022), the late Archbishop knew no rest as he continued to minister in his residence, counselling people and availed himself for pastoral service whenever he could do so.
He said he also continued his hobby of translating the Bible into his native Dagaaare language, as well as writing and publishing books. He noted that his long life of 89-years and four months have been a great blessing to the Church. “He lived those years as a committed Christian and follower of Christ”, he added.
The GCBC in a tribute which was read by the Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Bishop of Konongo-Mampong Diocese, noted that for three decades since joining the Conference in 1975, Archbishop Kpiebaya who was the Vice President from 1988 to 1994, worked closely with Emeriti Archbishop Sarpong and Francis Lodonu of Ho during their tenures as Presidents, serving as the voice of the voiceless during the tumultuous era in the political history of Ghana.
Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) in a tribute read on behalf of its President, His Eminence Philippe Cardinal Quedraogo, Archbishop of Ouagadougou by the Most Rev. Gabriel Edoe Kumordji, Bishop of Keta-Akatsi Diocese, described Archbishop Kpiebaya as, “A man of intense prayer and an advocate of peace and harmonious co-existence”. It added that Africa has lost, “A great servant, a caring shepherd and a good-spirited father”.
Other tributes were from the government of Ghana, former President Mahama, Tamale Archdiocesan Priests’ Association and Tamale Archdiocesan Laity Council.
Young Gregory Kpiebaya was born in 1933 at Nanvilli, a village in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region. His exact date of birth is unknown but he later chose 8th September, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary as his birthday due to his devotion to her.
His parents practiced African Traditional Religion but through the enthusiasm of one of his is brothers, Matthias Kuwabong for the Catholic faith which had been introduced to the Immaculate Conception Parish at Kaleo by the Missionaries of Africa Fathers, all his siblings were eventually drawn into Christianity and he was baptised on 25th March, 1942, and he took the name, Gregory, after his Patron Saint, St. Gregory the Great.
His journey to the Priesthood began at the minor seminary at Wiaga in 1951 and later at the St. Victor’s Major Seminary in Tamale in 1954. On completion of his formation, he was ordained to the Priesthood on 8th September, 1962, by Bishop Peter Porekuu Dery and appointed to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish at Daffiama as a Curate.
On November 18, 1974, Pope Paul VI nominated him as Bishop-elect of Wa Diocese and he was consecrated on March 15, 1975. After 20 years as Chief Shepherd, he was appointed Archbishop of Tamale on March 26, 1994, and consecrated on November 6, 1994.
On February 12, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation from the pastoral care of the Metropolitan See of Tamale, having attained 75-years in 2008. He was succeeded by Most Rev. Philip Naameh, the new Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale, on 25th April, 2009.
Present at the Mass were hundreds of mourners, mostly Catholics from the five Dioceses in the Tamale Ecclesiastical province as well as delegations from some of the other dioceses in Ghana and Burkina Faso, Women and Men Religious, Seminarians, Papal Knights and Dames and representatives of various Church societies.
By Francis Monnie//Newswatchgh.com
