Archbishop Matthias K. Nketsiah
of Cape Coast, Ghana, said he is excited that his country can provide
Catholic priests to serve as missionaries in other countries facing a
priest shortage, because he sees it as a way to repay the West for
fostering the church in Ghana.
The church in West is "our mother church because they gave us birth, planted the faith, sacrificed lives," he said.
"It wasn't easy. They sacrificed a lot. The first missionary to Ghana
died of malaria, then religious sisters came," the archbishop said.
"Some were 19 years old and knew they were going to die."
"Now it's time for us to return the compliment. We know the situation,
the lack of priests. It's not that we don't need them. ... I could open
three parishes now, but we make the sacrifice, so that the faith and
ministry may go on here (in the United States)."
Archbishop Nketsiah, 69, made the comments in an interview with The
Catholic Lighthouse, newspaper of the Victoria Diocese, where 16 of its
64 priests are from Ghana. Many of them have become U.S. citizens and
are pastors of parishes.
He has headed the Archdiocese of Cape Coast since 2010. He succeeded
Cardinal Peter Turkson, who is now head of the Pontifical Council for
Justice and Peace.
Of the archdiocese's 130 priests, 15 live in the United States and
another 10 live in Europe. In the U.S. Cape Coast priests serve in
Seattle, New Orleans, New York, Chicago, Albany and Victoria. The
archbishop spent May 9 to June 6 traveling to visit his priests.
He said that the Western church can still help the church in Ghana,
where there are four archdioceses, 15 dioceses and one apostolic
vicariate.
In the Cape Coast Archdiocese, "we need to continue training people;
financial help is essential, so the supply of priests can continue," he
said.
"We need a pastoral center, where we can form priests, laypeople,
catechists. We need those structures, such as catechetical centers, for
training and forming the faithful," he explained.
"We feel that now we need to be self-reliant financially, so I intend to
get churches to invest in financial, income-generating projects," he
added, emphasizing the word "invest" -- "so that it's a win-win
situation."
"Right now, the response has been muted," the archbishop said, referring to his efforts to find funding during his travels.
"For me, begging is not pleasant," he said with a smile.
Archbishop Nketsiah said he realizes it is not easy for his priests to
be missionaries or for the Western church in terms of adapting to one
another. "We come here as a product of our culture and come to minister
in a Western culture, and the two are different."
He said that it is especially difficult because of the priests' accent,
so he advises his priests to speak slowly when ministering in a
different country.
"When one gets excited, he speaks faster and the language gets garbled,"
he said. "That may be part of the difficulty when we come to help."
Back home in Ghana, one of the challenges the Catholic Church as well as
the 10 mainline Protestant denominations face is the many Pentecostal
churches in Ghana.
"The Pentecostals are a bother; they challenge every practice of our
faith," Archbishop Nketsiah said. "They preach an easy faith, and they
get the youth."
While the church in Ghana is eager to provide missionaries to the U.S.,
he said, at the same time, "we are praying that your own vocations go
up, because it is more effective when one ministers in one's own country
and culture."