Visiting Priest for the 
Missionary Cooperative Appeal 
Here This Weekend

Every year all diocesan parishes participate in the Mission Cooperative Appeal. The Catholic Church is world-wide. The Catholic Church in the United States greatly assists various dioceses and the missionary work taking place in less developed nations. To help us better understand the universality of the Church and to give us an opportunity to assist the Catholic Church in Ghana we will welcome Father Richmond Osei Amoah. He will speak at all our Masses this weekend. 

Father Amoah will ask your support for the strengthening of evangelization in the Archdiocese of Kumasi in Ghana. We will be taking a special second collection to support his Archdiocese and we invite your generosity.

The population of Ghana is about 31 million. Catholics represent a little over 11% of the population. While other Christian denominations exist there, over 17% of the people are Muslims and there are many who identify with traditional African religion or who have no affiliation with a faith tradition. The Archdiocese of Kumasi has seen a notable increase in infant and adult baptisms, sacramental marriages and vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Last year, Archbishop Gabriel J. Anokye of Kumasi ordained six new priests.

Their efforts for evangelization involve many humanitarian activities such as the care for street children, the building of new churches and educational institutions and the drilling of water wells for the people. They also need to open health clinics. A major project is the attempt to establish a College of Education for the formation of teachers at rural Kobreso, a small village 50 miles outside and north of Kumasi. The new teachers will be taught Catholic theology and Catholic social teaching to become part of the new evangelization in their interaction with students at primary, junior high and senior high school levels.