A New Bishop for Ghana’s Keta-Akatsi Diocese Named

A New Bishop for Ghana’s Keta-Akatsi Diocese Named

A New Bishop for Ghana’s Keta-Akatsi Diocese Named

CANAA By Damian || Avevor, Ghana || 16 March 2017

bishop gabriel kumordji for keta akatsi ghanaPope Francis on Thursday, March 16, appointed Most Rev. Gabriel Kumordji as the new Bishop of Ghana’s Keta-Akatsi Diocese situated in the Volta Region.

A member of the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD), Bishop Kumordji has been serving as the Apostolic Vicar of Ghana’s Donkorkrom Vicariate.

He succeeds Bishop Anthony Adanuty, who resigned last year after reaching the canonical retiring age limit of 75. Bishop Emmanuel Fianu (SVD) of Ho diocese has been the Apostolic Administrator of Keta-Akatsi Diocese.

The announcement was made at the Christ the King Cathedral, Akatsi, by the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Archbishop Jean-Marie Speich, in the presence of Bishops Kumordji, Fianu and Adanuty as well as the Priests, Religious and a section of the lay faithful.

Bishop Kumordji who will be turning 61 on March 24 will still be in charge of Donkorkrom Vicariate until a new Apostolic Vicar is appointed.

Born in Ghana’s capital, Accra, as the fifth son of Leonard and Severina Kumordji, Bishop Kumordji had his Primary Education at the Sacred Heart Parish in Accra and middle School at Mamprobi Sempe 7 at Mamprobi in Accra, and Secondary Education at St. Thomas Aquinas School in Accra.

After his Secondary Education, he undertook philosophical studies at St Victor’s Major Seminary in Tamale (1976-79) and joined the Society of Divine Word (SVD) Novitiate in 1979 and professed the first Vows on September 8, 1980 at St. George’s Parish in Koforidua.

From 1980 to 1983, he did his Theological Studies at the same Major Seminary in Tamale. After one year of pastoral experience in the Sunyani Diocese, he took his final Vows on September 8, 1984 at the Sacred Heart Parish at Derby Avenue.

He was ordained Priest by Bishop Dominic Andoh, the then Bishop of Accra on July 14, 1985.

His Priestly ministry began in St. Augustine Church at Asesewa from 1985to1988, St Maria Goretti Church at Battor from 1988-1991 as Associate Pastor before undertaking a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Missiology at the Loyola University in Chicago from1991-1993.

He also obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Religious Formation from St. Louis University in Missouri.

On his return in 1993, Bishop-Elect Kumordji was appointed Director of Formation in the SVD Formation House in Tamale and taught Pastoral Theology, Pastoral Counseling, Missiology and Homiletics at Victor’s Major Seminary in Tamale in from 1993 to 2001.

He again went for further studies in Los Angeles from 2001 to 2005 where he acquired Master’s Degree and PHD in Inter-Cultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

On June 22, 2005, Bishop Kumordji was elected and appointed the Provincial Superior of the SVD and President of the Conference of Superiors of Men Religious in Ghana.

With the erection of the Donkorkrom Apostolic Prefecture in the Afram Plains, he became the first Apostolic Prefect on June 12, 2007.

On January 19, 2010, when the Prefecture was elevated to an Apostolic Vicariate, he was appointed the Apostolic Vicar with Episcopal character.

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