The Most Rev. Samuel Nkuah-Boateng, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wiawso in Ghana’s Western North Region, has ordained two Deacons for the Diocese with a call on them to be true servants of the Church.
“Be true and authentic servant leaders for God, the Church and humanity,” he told the newly ordained Deacons in a homily at an ordination Mass concelebrated by about Priests on Friday, February 2, 2024 at the Our Lady of Annunciation Cathedral, Mpoman, Sefwi Wiawso.
The Deacons are Revs. George Tano from the Immaculate Conception Parish at Enchi and Augustine Ackah from the Christ the King Parish, Kyekyewere.
Bishop Nkuah-Boateng told the Deacons: “If you are not a servant leader, then you are only a leader for yourself,” advising them to be servant leaders to improve themselves because they were not into competition with anyone.
He added: “A servant leader is the one who makes sure that he always endeavour to improve himself but not the one who does things to approve himself,” admonishing the new Deacons, “Do not go out there to prove to others about who you are or what you can do but humble yourselves by improving your lives.”
During the ordination rites, the two newly ordained Deacons resolved to hold the mystery of faith with clear conscience, maintain and deepen the spirit of prayer and celebrate the Liturgy of Hours to the Church and the whole world.
The Parish Priests of the Deacons vested them with the Stole and Dalmatic (outer garment) as the symbol of their office.
The entire Church is called by Christ to serve, and the deacon, in virtue of his sacramental ordination and through his various ministries, is to be a servant in a servant-Church.
Holy Orders or Ordination gives the ordained person a sacred power in the name and authority of Christ and through the Holy Spirit, to serve the people of God.
There are three different orders or dimensions of ordination in the Catholic Church: Bishop, Priest and Deacon.
In the ordination ceremony, the bishop places his hands on the head of the one being ordained and prays that God will give him the special gifts of the Holy Spirit needed to carry out his ministry.
A Deacon is therefore ordained as a sacramental sign to the Church and to the world of Christ “to serve and not to be served through ministry of word, worship, pastoral care and charity.
Before someone is ordained a Priest, he is first ordained to the order of deacon. There are also what are called ‘permanent’ deacons who are ordained and function as Deacons but are not ordained to the priesthood.
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.
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 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.
Following the resignation of Most Rev. Joseph Francis Kweku Essien, the first Bishop of the diocese, the Holy Father, Pope Francis on January 26, 2023, appointed Very Rev. Fr. Samuel Nkuah-Boateng as the second Bishop of the Diocese of Wiawso.
By Damian Avevor, Sefwi Wiawso
