Hundreds of Catholics and non-Catholics on Monday, January 23 attended the investiture Mass of Rev. Fr. Dr. Louis Kofi Tuffuor, the Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kumasi as a Monsignor at the St. Hubert Minor Seminary Senior High School, Santasi.
The Mass was presided over by the Most Rev. Henryk Mieczyslaw Jagodzinski, Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, and concelebrated by the Most Rev. Gabriel Justice Yaw Anokye, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kumasi; the Most Rev. Peter Kwasi Sarpong, Archbishop Emeritus of Kumasi, and scores of Priests.
Also present were the Religious, members of the Christian Mothers Association, a large number of dignitaries, family members and friends.
In his homily based on the beatitudes, Archbishop Jagodzinski said, “The word ‘blessed’ in the beatitudes could be translated to a very simplified term as ‘happy’, noting, “God had placed in the heart of every person the desire for happiness as a primordial longing and wants to respond to it by sharing his own happiness.”
He said that today’s world offered the people of God different visions of happiness, based mainly on consumption, enumerating them as prosperity, success, career, prestige, saying, none of them fully satisfies human desires.
According to the Nuncio, true happiness consists in friendship with God, good relationship with oneself, with other people and living in harmony with nature.
He said the Beatitudes also revealed that God the Father was compassionate, merciful, meek, patient, gives peace and comforts.
Archbishop Jagodzinski, indicated that the ‘blessed’ in the beatitudes could be referred to Msgr. Tuffuor, who on July 5, 2022 at the Vatican, was appointed by Pope Francis as his chaplain. Hence, the outward sign of this blessing is today’s investiture ceremony.
The Nuncio praised Msgr. Tuffour for excelling in the scientific, pastoral and administrative fields and for fulfilling the many functions entrusted to him by the Church. He said the beatitudes were reflected in the priestly life of Msgr. Tuffour but added that in order to live them, one had to go through suffering and cross.
The Papal Representative in Ghana said “this title, is an important recognition that has filled the entire Archdiocese of Kumasi with pride,” adding, “Msgr. Louis has carried out his priesthood with great commitment and dedication to his neighbour.”
“I am therefore happy that Pope Francis, with the conferral of this title, has also wished to recognise its value. The title is assigned, in fact, to those priests who have shown a significant and prolonged pastoral commitment and fidelity to the Church,” the Nuncio said.
He reminded Msgr. Tuffour that the title conferred on him was a recognition, but also a call to dedicate oneself even more to the commitment to follow the path of the Beatitudes, because in holiness there is no limit.
Archbishop Anokye congratulated Msgr. Tuffour for the papal honour bestowed on him. He thanked Nuncio for conferring the honour and for visiting the Kumasi Archdiocese at three different occasions in the month of January 2023.
He announced that Rev. Fr. Joseph Adu Owusu-Agyemang has made history in the Ghana Judiciary to become the first and only priest of the Appeals Court, in service to the Church and the nation.
On his part, Archbishop Sarpong recalled that His Holiness, the late Pope Saint John Paul II on May 5, 1980, met the Bishops of West Africa in the very same Chapel where Msgr. Louis Tuffuor’s investiture was taking place.
He commended Msgr. Louis who after his degree in physics at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, decided to become a seminarian, a special man of God and an asset for the Church. He presented him a special gift to this effect.
Msgr. Tuffuor thanked the Holy Father for raising him to the status of a Monsignor in His Church and also thanked the Apostolic Nuncio for investing him, saying, “I have come this far only by the grace of God.”
“I feel privileged to sing the Magnificat with the Blessed Mother Mary. The Lord called me to be his Priest against all odds and has raised me to this honour,” he stated.
He thanked God for how far He has brought him as a priest, acknowledging Archbishop Anokye for his contributions to the Church and for recommending his name to the Holy See.
He thanked Archbishop Sarpong for his support in his priesthood, as well as his senior monsignori for their fraternal support and gifts,
He also appreciated the priests and religious, and all the faithful for their presence and all who graced the ceremony, not forgetting his parents and family members to whom he dedicated the honour conferred on him.
By Sr. Angela Amaechi, FSP//Newswatchgh.com
