Sekondi-Takoradi, 24 June, 2021 / 7:30 PM
Msgr. John Baptist Attakruh who has been serving as Apostolic Administrator of Ghana’s Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese since August 2020 has been appointed the Local Ordinary of the same episcopal see.
The appointment of the Ghanaian Cleric was made public by the Holy See Press Office Thursday, June 24 and announced in the Diocese by the Charge d'Affaires in Apostolic Nunciature in Ghana, Msgr. Maher Chammas.
“His Holiness Pope Francis has appointed Rev. Fr. John Baptist Attakruh as the new Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sekondi-Takoradi,” Msgr. Chammas announced Thursday, June 24.
The Bishop-elect is expected to take over from Archbishop John Bonaventure Kwofie who was transferred to the Archdiocese of Accra in January 2019.
Born in October 1957, Msgr. Attakruh was ordained a Priest of the Diocese of Sekondi-Takoradi on 30 July 1989.
He holds a Licentiate in Sacred Liturgy from the Rome-based Pontifical Institute of St. Anselm and a Master of Science in Educational Administration and Supervision of Instruction.
Before he was appointed Apostolic Administrator, Msgr. Attakruh had served in various positions, including Parish Priest, Director of Vocations, Director of Sacred Liturgy, Director of St. Kizito Pastoral and Catechetical Centre, formator and lecturer at St. Peter’s Regional Seminary in Ghana’s Cape Coast Archdiocese, among other Priestly and pastoral ministries.
In 2015, the Ghanaian Cleric coordinated the first Synod of Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese.
Reacting to his appointment, Msgr. Attakruh expressed appreciation to his predecessors for the foundation they managed to put up in the episcopal see that is located within the Ecclesiastical Province of Cape Coast.
He urged the people of God expected to be under his pastoral care to pray for him and called for a collaborative ministry along with the Religious and members of the Clergy.
“I will only show the path, I will share my vision with you so that it is not only my vision, but it is our vision,” the Bishop-elect said, addressing himself to the Clergy, women and men Religious, and Laity in Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese.
He added, “We are all responsible for this Diocese. It is a responsibility we share.”
When ordained a Bishop, Msgr. Attakruh will serve as the fifth Local Ordinary of the Ghanaian Catholic Diocese that was erected in November 1969.
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