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Let Your Priesthood Bring You New Life, Retired Prelate at Ordination in Ghana

Bishop Emeritus Anthony Kwami Adanuty of Keta-Akatsi laying hands on one of the Deacons he ordained a Priests for the Diocese at the St. Francis of Assisi Parish at Anloga in the Volta Region of Ghana on Saturday, October 17, 2020.

The Bishop Emeritus of Ghana’s Diocese of Keta-Akatsi has, on the occasion of the ordination of three Deacons to the Priesthood, asked the Deacons to see their ministerial Priesthood as a ministry that should bring them new life by becoming servant leaders.

“Give your lives totally to the Lord who has called you into the Priesthood ministry and has entrusted you to the people of God,” Bishop Anthony Kwami Adanuty told the three Deacons he was about to ordain as Priests at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Ghana’s Volta Region Saturday, October 17.

In his homily at the ordination of Rev. Emmanuel Atsu Agbozo, Rev. Damian Korbla Horminu and Rev. Frederick Seddoh-Henyo, the 80-year-old retired Bishop asked the three Deacons to live lives of humility and obedience in their priestly journey.

“Be servants to the people entrusted to you and ensure you practice what you preach to the people of God,” the Bishop who retired in April 2016, a month before his 76th birthday told the Deacons.

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He added, “As Priests to be ordained, do not seek the things of the world but make yourselves available always for the Word and preach the Word like Christ Himself.”

“You have to work in the Lord’s vineyard with zeal and shepherd the people of God with humility,” Bishop Adanuty reminded the Deacons, encouraging them to endeavor to become servant leaders and not Priests who would always want to load it over their flock.

“You are to lead the flock to worship God in Peace,” the Ghanaian Bishop said, and urged the faithful who were present to witness the ordination to pray for their young Priests.

“Continue to pray for your Priests and support them so that their lives will represent that shining example of Jesus who never compromised doing any other will than His Father’s will,” the ordaining Prelate said.

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He added, “God had chosen Priests and you (Lay faithful) should wholeheartedly embrace them because we all have weaknesses.”

The ordination Mass, which was among an array of activities to mark the Silver Jubilee of the Creation of Keta-Akatsi Diocese was concelebrated by the Local Ordinary, Bishops Gabriel Edoe Kumordji and all the Priests working in the Diocese as well as some other visiting members of the Clergy.

Meanwhile, Bishop Joseph Kwaku Afrifah-Agyekum of Ghana’s Koforidua Diocese has also ordained three Priests for the Diocese with a call on the newly ordained to endeavor to proclaim the word of God “with all the importance it deserves”.

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He emphasized the fact that failure to do so could lead to “serious consequences.”

The ordaining Prelate told the Deacons at the St. Rose’s Senior High in the Koforidua Diocese October 3 to “remember to impart the word of God to anyone that you have received, with joy from your heart, meditating on the law of the lord”

“Make sure that you believe what you preach and that you will also teach what you believe, and above all practice what you preach”, he counselled Rev. Martin Delali Atitson, Rev. George Yeboah, and Rev. Samuel Eli Adadey at the ordination Mass.

The 65-year-old Ghanaian Bishop called for mutual respect between Priests and the Lay faithful as they set out to proclaim the word and said, “I urge you to show respect to the Lay faithful at the parishes that you are going to be assigned to minister to.”

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“See them as your parents, your brothers, your sisters, and do not forget that they knew you before you became Priests. Do not go and throw your weight about,” he advised, and added, “Do not put your salvation on the line as you preach the word of God, celebrate the Sacrament and reach out to the world.”